Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
COPYRIGHT, 1955
by
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY
CONTENTS
STUDY
QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
SPEECH PREPARATION
PAGE
9
16
16
PLANNING AN OUTLINE
20
THE INTRODUCTION
23
26
THE CONCLUSION
30
DELIVERY
33
No AUDIENCE FEAR
THE BEST MANNER OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
33
37
40
44
BODILY EXPRESSIONS
10
48
SENSE STRESS
PUBLIC READING
11
50
MODULATION
12
53
SPEAKING EXTEMPORANEOUSLY
13
57
14
61
MICROPHONE SPEAKING
15
65
VOICE IMPROVEMENT
16
67
17
70
18
75
OVERCOMING DISTURBANCES
19
78
20
82
CONTENTS
STUDY
MEETINGS
PACE
86
HOW To BE A CHAIRMAN
21
86
PUBLIC MEETINGS
22
89
23
93
24
97
25
100
26
104
27
108
COMPOSITION
113
CONDENSING
28
113
29
116
30
121
31
125
32
128
33
133
34
137
35
140
LETTERS
36
144
PRIVATE STUDY
148
READING
37
148
How TO STUDY
38
151
39
155
40
158
USE OF CONCORDANCES
41
162
BIBLE DICTIONARIES
42
166
43
170
CONTENTS
7
STUDY
PAGE
OUR MINISTRY
HOUSE-TO-HOUSE MINISTRY
PRESENTATIONS
WITNESSING WITH MAGAZINES
OTHER WITNESSING
.
"TACTFUL TOWARD ALL"
APPROACHING PERSONS OF VARIED FAITHS . . .
ARGUMENTATION
REFUTATION
ANSWERING OBJECTIONS
RETURN VISITS
HOME BIBLE STUDIES
DIRECTING INTEREST TO THE ORGANIZATION . .
TRAINING NEW MINISTERS
ORGANIZING NEW CONGREGATIONS
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
174
174
178
182
186
190
193
197
200
204
207
211
215
218
222
CONGREGATION ACTIVITIES
SERVANTS' RELATIONS WITH THE BROTHERS . .
CONGREGATION OVERSEERS
ASSISTANT MINISTERIAL SERVANTS
THE "WATCHTOWER" STUDY SERVANT . . . .
MINISTRY SCHOOL SERVANT
THE CONGREGATION BOOK STUDY CONDUCTOR . .
THE CONGREGATION PUBLISHER
WOMEN MINISTERS
CHILD MINISTERS
THE FULL-TIME MINISTER
THE MISSIONARY
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59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
227
227
230
234
238
241
245
248
252
256
259
263
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
267
267
271
275
279
283
288
292
CONTENTS
STUDY
MODERN HISTORY OF
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
PAGE
297
76
297
77
301
78
305
79
308
80
312
81
317
322
83
327
84
332
85
336
86
340
.
.
THEOCRATIC SOCIETY
346
THE UNIVERSAL
AND THE KINGDOM ORGANIZATION
87
346
88
350
89
353
90
356
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
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false ministers of religion or qualified ministers of Jehovah . So when Paul's ministry was called into question
he did not rely on his mere unsupported claim or on
any letters or documents from other men, but he pointed to the fruitage of his ministerial work, to those
persons he had preached to and on whose hearts he
had caused to be inscribed the truths concerning God
and Christ and the new covenant . Paul let his work
speak for him, recommend him, prove him to be an
active minister blessed by Jehovah . He offered in evidence live human recommendations as his letter proving his ministerial qualifications . When false religious
leaders challenged Jesus' position as Messiah he did not
flash on them some human authorization or diploma,
but relied on the same evidence that Paul later did :
"If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me . But if I am doing them, even though you do
not believe me, believe the works ."-John 10 :37, 38,
NW.
Regardless of what a person may claim, he is the
servant of the one he obeys : "Do you not know that if
you keep presenting yourselves to anyone as slaves
to obey him, you are slaves of him because you obey
him?" The religious leaders of Jesus' time said they
were serving Jehovah, but he told them that they were
from the Devil, that the Devil was their father, because
they did the desires of the Devil . The Devil has ministers also, and some who say they are God's prove by
their works that they are actually Satan's . If they are
teaching Satan's lies they are his servants, regardless
of contrary claim, despite the deceptive appearance of
outward godliness they may don . As Paul said concerning such ones : "Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light . It is therefore nothing great
if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into
ministers of righteousness . But their end shall be ac-
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SPEECH PREPARATION
Study 1
SEARCHING OUT GOOD MATERIAL
1 Your work as a Christian today is that of talking . In one
sense the God-given medium of speech is one of the most
precious assets a human has . It enables him to "always offer
to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which
make public declaration to his name ." (Heb . 13 :15, NW)
A daily offering or sacrifice requires much talking . Such
kind of talking or sacrifice should be of the very best . Anything short of the best would amount to robbing God of
what is justly due him . (Mal . 3 :8, 11) Are you prepared,
then, to offer your best sacrifice to Jehovah God? Do you
know how to go about preparing your offering? If not, with
all diligence and attention lend your good will toward learning how to search out good material for speaking and teaching Jehovah's fame every day .-Rom . 2 :21 .
2 Many times daily our ministry shows us that more than
a general knowledge is necessary to do as Paul told Timothy,
'to teach, to reprove, to set things straight and to discipline .'
(2 Tim. 3 :16, NW) To do these things right the Christian
minister realizes he must be able to bring together material
suitable for each occasion . Is it a three- to eight-minute doorto-door presentation he wants to give? Could it be his fifteenminute sermon on his back-call? Does he have a one-hour
talk to deliver? Or, perhaps he must bring together twenty
minutes of forceful, clear counsel for a service meeting .
Whatever the length, be assured that often just general information will not suffice to do the sacrifice justice . Many
listeners to whom you speak will have the same general
information that you have . To reach them, to motivate them
to action, requires research on your part, much digging, and
molding of thought . How?
3 To do effective research three points now take our attention . They are thinking, reading and assimilating . First of all,
we shall concern ourselves with thinking on our subject . Please
note that it is required that you think first, not read . Do not
substitute reading for thinking, otherwise you may merely
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MINISTERS
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proper notes written down can lead into a convenient outline . 8 . How
does the time element enter into gathering material? 9 . How should
the audience and your purpose in speaking influence your gathering
of material? 10, 11 . (a) What does it mean to paraphrase? (b) What
suggestions are made toward that end?
Study 2
PLANNING AN OUTLINE
1 In order to prepare an understandable and instructive
presentation of any Bible topic a plan or outline is needed .
Usually an outline consists of three parts, namely, (1) an
introduction or opening, in which immediate interest in the
subject should be aroused, (2) the body or discussion, in
which the facts and arguments are presented to make the
subject clear and convincing, and (3) the conclusion or ending of the speech, which drives home the main idea and moves
the audience to serious thought and action .
2
In order to make an outline or blueprint that will aid in
building up a talk, you must first get acquainted with your
subject . To this end you gather material for your talk . In
doing this, do not devote too much time and space to any
one point . However, some points should be given more attention in your talk than others ; therefore the speaker must
decide which main points he wants to emphasize most . Do
not attempt to use all the material gathered for any one
talk, but use the clearest and most convincing material possible. When you have finished outlining a point, go on to
another. Do not return to the same point because you may
have thought of something else to add . Doing so will likely
confuse the audience . Then when you have finished arranging
your facts, arguments and illustrations, go on to your conclusion, and when this is planned, stop! Many good talks are
spoiled by overshooting the mark, that is, by the speaker's
continuing after he has finished .
3 If you are preparing a talk, say, on the topic "Death,"
with the theme "Hope of Deliverance from Death," your
introduction might be as follows : "Human creatures have
been dying on this earth for approximately six thousand
years, according to Bible records . Some people think this
condition will continue forever, or as long as the world endures . However, the Bible shows that in the near future
death will be destroyed and that you may live in peace and
health on this earth forever ."
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out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils
the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul ."
(Gen . 2 :7, NW) There again we see life and death contrasted,
and not heaven and hell .
8 The next point to be discussed in the body of the talk
is the hope of deliverance from death . There are many
passages that can be used to prove that there is hope for
roan in a resurrection . 1 Corinthians 15 :21, 22 (NW) is very
much to the point, where we read : "Since death is through
a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a man . For
just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will
be made alive ." Then the need for a redeemer could be briefly
discussed . "We behold Jesus, . . . that he by God's undeserved kindness might taste death for every man ." (Heb .
2 :9, NW) He "gave himself a corresponding ransom for
all kinds of people ." (1 Tim . 2 :6, NW, margin) Because he
was about to redeem mankind he could say : "All those in
the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those
who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment ." (John 5 :28,
29, NW) Briefly show what resurrection means, and the body
of your talk is finished .
9 Now comes the conclusion, and it might be done simply
by making a brief summary as follows : "In our discussion
we have learned what death really is, and how it came about,
also the condition of the dead and the hope for those of the
dead who are of good will to live happily forever, as Jehovah
purposed in the beginning ."
10 In a public talk we should not forget that many in our
audience are not familiar with the Bible ; therefore we should
read Bible texts unhurriedly, clearly and expressively so that
the listeners may hear and understand and be impressed by
the reading of God's Word . Do not try to tell all you know
about the Bible in one talk ; save some for your next one .
What counts is, not quantity, but quality of material presented by planned, outlined order or right sequence and
coherence .
"There are two types of outlines, namely, a sentence outline and a topical outline. A beginner in the art of public
speaking would do well by at first using sentence outlines
and, after having gained speaking experience, a topical outline. When you use the first method, each point of the outline
is set forth by a complete sentence, in which key words are
underlined . A glance at the underscored thought-conveying
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words will usually suggest the rest of the sentence . This will
enable the speaker to keep his eyes more on his audience
than on his outline. Brief scripture texts might be copied
out and embodied in the outline . This will prevent frequent
breaks in the delivery by searching for the texts in the Bible .
12 More practical is the topical outline . In this each main
point only is set forth by one or more key words or by a
brief phrase, that is, a mere portion of a sentence forming
a complete thought expression . Either will suffice for instantly conveying to the speaker the next thought group to be
discussed .
13 The Society provides detailed printed outlines for longer
discourses for the use of public speakers of Jehovah's witnesses all over the world . These are a great help and a timesaver, and they should be adhered to closely for logical, coherent and persuasive public presentation of God's truth .
REVIEW : 1. Name the main parts of an outline and state the chief
purpose of each . 2 . Indicate the progressive steps of outlining . 3, 4. Give
an example of an effective beginning of a talk, showing why it is effective . 5-8. Now briefly develop the body of the same theme . 9. Finally
conclude impressively. 10. How should Bible quotations be read?
11-13. Name and explain the usefulness of the two types of outlines .
Study 3
THE INTRODUCTION
1 The first task confronting a speaker is to awaken his
audience to instant attention and to arouse their immediate
interest in his subject by his opening words . His very first
sentence must be arresting, even electrifying . This is unlike
the conventional formal introduction that serves no other
purpose than to give hearers time to get settled . Few listen
to it, and nobody remembers it afterward . But a good and
effective introduction should serve as a magnifying glass
to catch the scattered interests and thoughts of an audience
and bring them to a common focus, that is, the theme of the
subject to be discussed .
2 This can be made doubly sure by first arousing general,
common interest in the subject and then showing that each
listener's personal life interest is involved in it .
3 The word "introduction," a synonym for the beginning
or opening of an address, is borrowed from Latin, meaning
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SPEECH
PREPARATION
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Study 4
THE BODY OF A TALK
1 The body of a talk is the main, central or principal part
of the talk. It is that part of a talk to which the introduction
leads and upon which the conclusion is based . It is the "meat"
of the talk . Just as "the [human] body without breath is
dead," so a spiritless, disjointed, incoherent, irrelevant body
of a talk is also lifeless . Just as our human bodies are presented "a sacrifice living," so also must the body of the talk
be alive . How can this be accomplished? In addition to impressive illustrations and concrete instances, what arrangement of our material will make the talk live and be remembered longer and by more persons?
2 Three things govern this . They are, first, those to whom
you are talking ; second, what you are talking about ; and
third, what you desire to accomplish by the talk . If, for instance, the talk is a service talk to Jehovah's witnesses, who
are familiar with the subject, then you could use information,
terms and illustrations familiar to the brothers . If it is a
public lecture before a mixed audience, then necessarily your
proofs would be more detailed and your illustrations somewhat different, and you would also arrange them in a different order . Presume that you have your material gathered
and roughly outlined ; consequently, now that you know
what you want to use, which of the following methods will
best present your information? Let us see .
3 An arrangement according to importance places the
things of lesser importance first, then the talk advances
on to more important items, momentum and interest continue to mount, and finally it reaches a climax . In fact, all
talks after an arresting introduction should strive to hold
interest and attention and to cause these to grow until the
listener wants to do something with the knowledge gained
and take the course of action suggested . In using this method
of giving a lecture on a doctrinal subject, you might first
give false religion's teachings on the matter and then go
on to build up the Scriptural side of the issue, listing the
most powerful and clinching scriptural and factual arguments last . There may be one circumstance under this arrangement where you will give the most important point
first . That is only where you know of a strong objection
lodged in the mind of the audience that must be removed
before you can proceed to give the rest of your talk and
have their attention without prejudice .
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topic to the central theme . This very discussion of the different methods of developing the material in the body of
a talk is an example of a topical arrangement . The record
of the messages to the seven congregations given in Revelation, chapters two and three, is along this pattern, listing
seven individual letters to different congregations and tying
them in to the over-all account of John's vision .
7 Then, too, one might arrange the body by going from
problem to solution . A talk on how world peace can be
attained could present the crying need for peace as the problem, then show man's suggested remedies and various efforts to attain peace, and conclude with the one and only
solution, Jehovah's new world after the battle of Armageddon .
8 Arrangement of cause and effect is
another way . Existing
conditions or effects are the result of specific causes . For instance, the people's lack of spiritual knowledge is the result
of the clergy's substituting tradition and worldly wisdom
for the truth of God's Word . An example of this method
is the account at James 4 :1-3 (NW), where the cause of wars
is discussed : "From what source are there wars and from
what source are there fights among you? Are they not from
this source, namely, from your cravings for sensual pleasure
which carry on a conflict in your members?" War is the
effect ; cravings for the satisfaction of selfish lusts, the cause .
Another : the refusal and hardheartedness of Pharaoh resulted in the coming of ten disastrous plagues upon Egypt
and the forcing of Pharaoh to let the Israelites go . One is
the cause, the other the effect .
9 Division into classes or natural groups
. By this arrangement existing classes or divisions of peoples or things are
considered . For instance, a talk on New World living would
cover instructions for all of us . An example of this arrangement is found in Ephesians, chapters five and six . There Paul
gives first in order general instructions on clean living for
the whole congregation, then specially advises wives, husbands, children and finally slaves on their personal conduct
and service to God and on all getting along together in unity .
A talk using this style of arrangement one could build on
Jesus' illustration of dividing the people into two classes,
namely, "sheep" and "goats ." The "rich man" and "beggar"
classes, the "little flock" and "other sheep," etc ., are other
existing groups that may be separately discussed .
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Study 5
THE CONCLUSION
1 By a well-planned introduction a speaker gains his
audience's immediate attention, by the informative body
of the lecture he holds their interest, and by a weak conclusion he spoils the whole thing . Therefore no one may be called
a "finished speaker" unless he has effectively finished his
speech.
2 Though the conclusion is where the very purpose and
theme of the entire talk are to be driven home, it often
suffers more from lack of careful planning than any other
part of a speech outline . This is the more regrettable since
the last things said are remembered first and stay in the
mind of the listeners longest . Last words determine to a
large degree the impression and opinion of the whole speech .
3 The "conclusion" means the last part, the summing up,
the end of a talk . It rounds it out, gives it a note of finality,
and brings the matter to rest . Without a conclusion listeners
are left in mid-air . Instead of reaching the goal and concluding the thought journey by a happy landing, the pilot
bails out and deserts his passengers .
4 The main purpose of a speech conclusion is to show the
listeners what they are expected to do about the information received . There are various effective ways of how to do
this, and they may be used effectively in combination .
5 A summarizing conclusion is advisable if the proofs in
the body were numerous or involved . Some listeners may be
lost in the maze of material. Minor ideas may have smothered
or crowded out the major ones . If this is likely the case,
then the conclusion must isolate the main points for them
and give them, so to speak, a bird's-eye view of the whole
discussion . This kind of intellectual conclusion is the simplest
but also the driest and dullest of all types of conclusion,
unless it is mated with an emotional appeal by adding a
stirring call for action or works of faith .
6 For instance, when visiting again some truth-hungry
persons, their searching questions of a previous visit might
be answered by a well-planned short talk . They propounded
a barrage of questions regarding immortality, condition of
the dead, heaven, hell and purgatory, and other related subjects. The qualified theocratic minister, after submitting en-
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DELIVERY
Study 6
NO AUDIENCE FEAR
1 How would you feel if you were called upon to address,
at a joint session of Congress, the American president and
his cabinet, the House of Representatives and the Senate,
and a full gallery of the public? What if you had never given
a public speech and you were faced with speaking before
any parliament? Or suppose you were called upon to make
a radio and television broadcast to an entire nation? If you
can imagine how you might feel, perhaps you can sympathize with Moses, who was sent by Jehovah into the royal
court of Egypt to speak to the mighty Pharaoh and his
counselors . What feelings Jeremiah must have had when he
was faced with the responsibility of delivering God's message to the people of Jerusalem, before the princes and
the king! The Bible leaves no doubt about it : Moses and
Jeremiah were gripped by audience fear .
2 But they did not let that fear silence them, did they?
Once their faith in Jehovah to help them was strengthened
and they had gained some experience in faith-proving works,
this enabled them to overcome this speaking hazard . Jehovah
had commanded them to speak ; their public speaking had
become an obligation and a necessity. Now Jehovah commands it again, and it is even more imperative and urgent
to deliver his message today . Jehovah helped his ministers
in the days gone by, so we have assurance that he will faithfully help and train his ministers now . But his spokesmen
must, like men of old, show faith by trying to carry out
their divine mission and thus gain ability to overcome fear
through speaking experience .
3 Why does an intelligent person often forget the most
important ideas, when it comes to public speaking? Why
does the fine conversationalist suddenly stammer, hesitate,
become repetitious? What causes a bodily tenseness, a sinking sensation, weakness of the knees, trembling of hands,
shortness of breath and palpitation of the heart? Why do
throat and lips suddenly dry up and eyes see only a blurred
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DEL I V E R Y
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REVIEW:.1,Ho2wdiMseanJrmihcoquetradinc
fear, and how about modern witnesses of Jehovah? 3-5 . Suggest how
some physical causes of audience fear can be overcome . 6 . Why should
initial nervousness give a speaker no concern? 7 . Offer remedies for
lack of confidence in one's own ability as speaker . 8 . Explain why the
intelligence and learning of listeners should cause no audience fear .
9, 10. What will thorough preparation well in advance do for a speaker
11-14 . What are additional suggestions for getting rid of audience fear''
15 . Show why no extraordinary training is required for overcoming
dread of an audience .
Study 7
THE BEST MANNER OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
1 The most effective manner of speaking for you is the
way you speak in your daily conversation with others . This
is not to say that your manner of daily speech can not and
should not be improved . It is, however, by this method that
you most naturally and effectively convey your thoughts to
others . You know what you want to say and you spontaneously concentrate on the business of saying it effectively . Your
daily speech is natural to you, you are familiar with it, it
is an integral part of yourself, your personality . In a day's
time, by using your everyday style of speech, you summon
forth expressions of sympathy, sobriety, urgency, enthusiasm .
cheer, happiness, tiredness, sadness, indignation and all the
many other colors of mood expressed in human speech . Your
daily conversational method of delivery is unaffected, alive,
fresh, colorful, original and peculiar to you alone . This is
the manner of speaking theocratic ministers desire to use for
effective presentation of the "good news ."
2 Although the conversational manner of speaking comes
natural and effortless in the informal daily interchange of
ideas with others, there is scarcely a public speaker who
does not at first have difficulty in gaining this desirable quality in platform delivery . Cultivating this most effective
manner of speaking for formal occasions does not depend
so much on mastering a set of rules or technique of speech
as it does on becoming fully absorbed with the spirit of
speaking, that is, with the desire to communicate ideas . One
speaker may observe all the rules of proper speaking and
possess an enviable technique ; yet when he speaks it is as
though he is turned inwardly and he never "gets through"
to his hearers . On the other hand, another speaker may transgress some of the rules and his technique may not be of the
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best, but his heart overflows and he speaks with warm appeal
to his listeners. Such a speaker audiences welcome and
follow with rapt attention . What is the difference between
the two? The one is centered on self ; the other is centered
on the idea .
3 The basis of all expression is an "idea," the desire to convey a fact, a reality, a truth . A person of good will receives
a knowledge of the truth . He is consumed with the idea
of the truth . The idea takes on tangible form or expression
when he makes a dedication to Jehovah, and thus a new
servant enters the ministry of the gospel . So an idea is the
starting point of expression. Thus it is in speaking . See the
idea clearly. Be convinced of it . Be immersed in it . Have a
genuine and intense desire to communicate it to others and
you may be assured of its effective expression . You will
speak from the abundance and overflow of your heart, and
that is the most important thing . (Luke 6 :45) An idea so
fully grasped by a speaker contains all that is necessary for
its winning expression.
4 Unfortunately, some speakers block the submersion of
self in the idea and hence deter the first step toward the
most effective manner of speaking . First, there are those
whose thoughts are not filled with the idea to be conveyed, but
are mainly self-centered . Akin to this class are those who are
conscious of the idea, but are barred from effective utterance
because of their negative viewpoint, which discourages uninhibited free expression . Then, too, an exaggerated sense of
personal responsibility for the effect of a talk may cause a
speaker to become centered on self to the neglect of the idea .
Apathy and indifference are other deadly enemies of the
spirit of speaking, for they cause imitation, lack of freshness and originality . However, most speakers fall into the
category of those who are awake to the idea and are expressing it, but only in a second-rate way . This can be attributed to a concern for what others may think of them personally . Such a concern springs from an ambitious desire for
praise or a slavish fear of criticism . The speaker's thought is
centered on how he is speaking rather than on what he is
speaking . Technique and the observance of the proper rules
of delivery are important, yes, and that is why classroom
instruction is provided and private practice urged . You will
also find that as you eliminate those things that divert your
thoughts, and as you stay with the idea to the exclusion of
all else, the necessary technique for expression will develop .
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and not sound weak, but you maintained the same "living
room" manner of speech, your conversational tone .
8 A few words of caution concerning conversational discourse : Slovenly speech is to be avoided . To be slovenly in
any respect is a mark of carelessness and ignorance . Overprecise and stilted diction is just as bad . Coarse slang, the
blight of modern English, ought to be shunned, likewise trite
expressions and hackneyed phrases . Wisecracking and inappropriate jesting will not serve the cause of effective
speaking . Be friendly also with a large audience, but never
intimate ; maintain the proper dignity . Do not depend on such
obviously contrived devices as casually sitting on the edge
of a table or draping oneself over the speaker's stand or
restlessly wandering about the platform as methods of obtaining conversational style . They smack of affectation .
Neither does "conversational speaking" mean a lifeless, subdued delivery ; be animated, alive, enthusiastic . Do not stand
stiffly glued to one spot . It is unlike everyday "living room"
conversation . Make free and easy use of your entire speaking
body, just as in everyday speaking .
s In conclusion, remember that truth originates with Jehovah, the Source of truth . Through his Word of truth Jehovah
has revealed the most important idea in the universe-his
being and supremacy and the establishment of his kingdom
by Christ. What greater idea could any speaker have as an
impetus to enthusiastic expression! Like Jeremiah, who said
God's Word "is in my heart like a burning fire," Jehovah's
witnesses are fired by the truth to make impressive expression of it to all men by means of the most effective manner
of speaking .-Jer . 20 :9, AT.
REVIEW : 1 . Describe the manner of expressive daily speech . 2, 3 . Do
you know the secret of most effective platform speaking? What is it :'
4. Indicate some of the reasons why free and enthusiastic expression
of some speakers is inhibited . 5 . What, then, is the best manner of
public speaking? 6 . Describe proper conversational address to a large
audience . 7 . How is it possible to speak to many in the same manner
as in daily conversation? S . What extremes of informality and other
mistakes on the platform should be avoided? 9 . Point out why Jehovah's
witnesses should be the most enthusiastic and best speakers .
Study 8
ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF EFFECTIVE SPEECH
t A speaker who wishes to produce a good speech is confronted with the same problem as an architect who wishes
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to construct a good house : both must follow carefully-laidout plans . The architect follows an accurate blueprint and
proved construction methods ; the speaker must follow a
careful outline and certain basic principles of good speech .
The builder's goal is to erect a structure that will serve its
purpose, be economical, substantial and pleasant . Then he
will have accomplished his purpose . The speaker's goal is
to deliver his message clearly and pleasantly and to get
his listeners to act on it . Only then will he reach a successful conclusion .
2 What, then, is good "delivery"? Well, as it applies to public
speaking, it has to do with the act of utterance, the mode
or manner of expressing oneself . In other words, the way
in which a speaker makes himself clear and what he says
impressively, that is his manner of delivery . In preparing to
deliver a speech the speaker must use ten essential qualities
of good speech, which will be taken up one by one . But, as
this is done, it should be remembered that the purpose of
seeking to improve one's speaking is not for the exhibition
of the speaker but for the glory of Jehovah, by better delivery of his kingdom message .
3 What, then, is the primary purpose of delivering a Bible
lecture? It is, first of all, to make known Jehovah and his
Word, to convince by appealing to the hearers' intelligence,
to make them believe that what we are saying is the truth,
and then to stir them to works of faith in harmony with
what they heard . So the purpose of a Christian minister's
speech is to communicate God's truth and then to inspire
the hearers to act on it .
4 To accomplish our purpose we do not need to shout all
the time. If anything, such shouting would serve only to keep
people away . We need to do more than make them hear .
We want them to absorb what we are saying and understand
it . Most of all, we want them to act in accord with what they
hear. That is the ultimate result desired . In every other
respect a speaker may give an excellent discourse . When
he concludes he may have an overawed audience, exclaiming :
"What a speech and what a speaker!" But if he fails to inspire his hearers to works of faith, then he falls short in
the most vital essence of good speech .
5 This brings us down to a discussion of the ten essential
qualities that work together to make an address effective .
The first quality of good speech to be considered is the most
outstanding and necessary and is certainly one that Jesus
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might sit down and find relief from his misery . But how
much of the material will they absorb with such thoughts
running through their minds? Very little, if any . If a speaker
is at ease he puts the audience at ease . If he speaks with
confidence and poise, they are impressed by what he says .
14 The sum of the matter is that much time and effort are
spent in preparing a talk, but the delivery should be with
conversational naturalness and ease, which will make it
seem effortless . Most of the listeners should be moved to good
works . Jesus ended his speeches with an appeal to such
action . So must we. His appeal came not only from the head
but also from the heart . So must ours . Failure to inspire to
works of faith means failure to achieve the primary purpose
of effective speech .
REviEw : 1 . Draw a parallel between the construction and purpose of
a good house and those of a good speech . 2 . What is meant by good
delivery of a speech? 3 . What is the primary purpose of delivering a
Bible lecture? 4 . Point out the main purpose of good speech . 5-13 . Name
the ten essential qualities of effective speech, showing why each is
indispensable and how they should be put to good use . 14 . Advise
how a speaker can be greatly helped rather than hindered by his knowledge of basic speech theory .
Study 9
PUBLIC READING
1 Effective and convincing reading is as much an art as is
music. All well know the effect of music on people . A soft
and soothing melody can lull one into a sense or state of
languor and sleep, while a moving, lilting waltz makes one
feel like dancing . It moves you to act, just as a stirring
march makes one feel like standing up and marching in step
with the music . So it is with reading. A soft-spoken, mildmannered reader with no visual contact can lull an entire
audience to sleep or at least soothe them to daydreaming,
while an enthusiastic, spirited and vibrant reader, living and
feeling his material and maintaining a certain degree of contact with his audience by sight, can keep them keyed up and
move them to act on what they hear .
2 There are eight essentials to good, effective public reading . They are : Enthusiasm or feeling, sufficient loudness of
tone, distinctness, sense stress, modulation, naturalness .
pausing and poise .
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Study 10
BODILY EXPRESSIONS
1 Did you say the body cannot speak? You are surprised
when it is claimed that it really speaks? Do you want proof
of it? Here it is : When you beckon to someone, what do you
say to him? By this gesture alone you are calling him to
come near you, without words, are you not? When one waves
good-by to someone, is this gesture understood? Of course
it is . When a man rolls up his sleeves and menacingly shakes
his fists at another, is it not a sign that he is ready to fight?
So you see that the body can speak, and sometimes more
eloquently than the mouth .
2 Some of Jehovah's people are shy and self-conscious and
this disadvantage hinders them from making full use of their
speaking body, while others are under the impression that
gestures are not natural with them . Yet when they are asked,
"Why not?" they make a sweeping gesture with their hands
and with a facial expression of helplessness say, "I simply
cannot gesture ; gestures are something foreign to me ." However, let it be said at the outset that all willing volunteers
in Jehovah's army can use their body to glorify and praise
God .
3 A soldier who volunteers in Jehovah's army does so because he loves righteousness and hates wickedness and its
author Satan. When he speaks for Jehovah and describes his
attributes he cannot keep from showing it on his face . His
eyes will be sparkling and his face gleaming with joy . When
he tells of God's great mercy, quoting Psalm 103 :11 (AS),
"As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his
lovingkindness toward them that fear him," he will unconsciously make a sweeping gesture with his hand over his
head to make all see and feel Jehovah's infinite and tender
mercy. But in order to make such a sweeping gesture the
speaker must feel God's loving-kindness deep in his heart .
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and therefore when he speaks in public he must deport himself with the natural dignity becoming to representatives of
the Most High God . Wild and affected gesticulations such as
are used by the revivalists and some other clergymen of Christendom must be avoided . After all, what will help the people
to understand the message is not so much the body in motion
but the moving word spoken with spirit, although gestures
will greatly help to drive home the point. Gestures do not aid
hearers alone ; they also aid the speaker himself by animating him, stirring up his feelings and thus enlivening his
presentation .
7 Since gestures are an outward expression of one's inward
condition, let them come spontaneously out of yourself, out
of your impulses, out of your thoughts and emotions, out of
your heart and mind . They should not be planned or taken
from some book . You never studied how to smile, to laugh,
to be indignant, did you? Why, then, should you try to study
gestures or, worse still, to copy somebody else? And do not
repeat the same gesture again and again, neither facial expressions, because such gesture becomes a tedious, meaningless mannerism.
8 If a beginner in public speaking is unable to make his
body speak, then the trouble lies in the fact that he is rather
timid or self-conscious . To overcome this obstacle he must
forget self and become fully engrossed in what he has to
say. Then he will not only make free use of his voice in conveying thoughts and emotions, but his body, too, will collaborate to this end . Then and only then will his talk live and
the audience with it, and all this to the glory of our Maker,
who gave man a mouth and the rest of the body to praise him .
REVIEw : 1 . Prove that the human body can actually speak. 2. Why
are some adult speakers inhibited from making full use of their speaking
body when on the platform? 3 . When do gestures of a speaker become
spontaneous, natural, fitting and expressive? 4. Illustrate how a speaker
is further aided by visualizing a scene or action he describes . 5-7 . What
mistakes in gesturing must he avoid? How are both hearers and speaker
aided by gestures? 8. How would you help a self-conscious beginner in
platform speaking overcome his physical restraint?
Study 11
SENSE STRESS
1 In the days of Jesus and the apostles and for centuries
afterward the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom
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was done almost entirely by word of mouth. Good oral delivery was essential for an effective witness to the truth,
whether they spoke to individuals, to a family or to other
small gatherings, or addressed a multitude . There is Scriptural and other historical evidence showing that these early
witnesses were qualified and competent ministers to speak
the Word effectively and convincingly .
2 Concerning Jesus it was said : "Never has another man
spoken like this ." (John 7 :46, NW) Attending circumstances
and the Master's choice of words and phrases would strongly argue that this reference to his speech was a recognition
of not merely his gracious words, but also the forceful
manner in which he spoke . Of the apostles it is written that
they too spoke with boldness (Acts 4 :31, NW) and that their
spirited speech was similarly forceful, to the point of swaying multitudes . Jehovah's witnesses even before the time of
Christ recognized the forcefulness of words spoken with right
emphasis . Faithful Job said : "How forcible are right words!"
(Job 6 :25) And Solomon gives this wise counsel : "A word
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver ."
-Prov. 25 :11, RS .
3 Speaking the truth by word of mouth is still the first step
in the presentation of the New World message. The effectiveness with which this is done often determines the measure
of success attending the first contact . The requirement for
forceful and effective speech and reading is oral emphasis,
whether in conversation, in talking and reading to an intimate family group, in study class, or on the platform to the
congregation or to the public. Modulation, tonal variety and
contrast, is the spice of speech, but oral emphasis is the very
life of it . On it depend the meaning, spirit and life of speaking .
4 What is oral emphasis? It is the art of vocally stressing
one or more thought-conveying words of a phrase in order to
draw the listener's attention to them and thus to the thought
they bear, and by the degree of emphasis, light, medium or
heavy, is indicated the relative weight or importance of the
idea . Subordinate words that merely connect or modify the
few thought-containing words are simply left unstressed ;
otherwise they would detract from the main thought . Emphasis is also fittingly called sense stress, because stress is
a means of conveying the sense and import of an utterance .
5 In everyday conversation one naturally, spontaneously
and fittingly stresses the words that will bring out the main
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Study 12
MODULATION
I Variety is said to be the spice of life . Well, Jehovah God is
the Author of life itself and all his creative works are pleas-
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words are born on the spur of the moment and the whole
attention of the speaker is on what he is saying, not particularly on how he is saying it .
8 On the other hand, not only does the prepared discourse
contain thoughts, but oftentimes the words, too, are selected
ahead of time ; then too often the talk takes on the form of
a tape recording. The speaker mounts the platform, turns
on his vocal machine and starts thinking of other things besides his speech . His attention is diverted from his material
by various thoughts, by questions that flash across the mind :
What does the audience think of me? What is that distracting noise outside? Are they getting what I am saying? Did
they notice that I mispronounced the word I just spoke?
Naturally, under such bombardment of thoughts the speaker's
mind fails to concentrate on what he is saying . He fails to
live what he is speaking . He fails to speak words fresh from
the heart . He sounds mechanical, lacking speech modulation .
s The best practice to develop proper modulation is to read
aloud the Bible. There is no human emotion not found in the
Bible . Some things therein recorded are light and casual,
other thoughts exalted and sublime and still others are
written with deep feeling . Some events are described with
great dramatic impact, other things have underlying notes
of sarcasm or humor . Take for example Acts 2 :14-37, where
Peter's message spoken on the day of Pentecost is recorded .
Read it over silently to yourself, picturing in your mind the
occasion, the scene of startled people full of amazement over
the miraculous demonstration of divine power, and then see
the apostle Peter rising in their midst to explain what it all
meant . Picture in your mind how he must have spoken, at
times very slow and deliberately, at other times with strong
oral emphasis or fiery enthusiasm . No question about it, his
audience not only heard Peter, they listened, understood and
were moved to action, for the account says that at the conclusion of that speech about 3,000 were baptized . Now with
this whole scene and its events well in mind read the second
chapter of Acts aloud several times ; throw yourself into it,
live it. As you do this, modulation of the spoken words will
come easily, naturally .
10 Without a question of doubt, Jehovah gave each of his
ministers a wonderful instrument, the human voice, with
which to tell others of his supremacy and greatness, his
fairness, his undeserved kindness, tender mercies and infinite love . As Jehovah's faithful ministers we are therefore
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Study 13
SPEAKING EXTEMPORANEOUSLY
1 Of all methods of speech delivery speaking extemporaneously is the best one under given circumstances . What are
its advantages and disadvantages? Extemporaneous, extemporary, and extempore (the latter more often used adverbially) are synonyms literally meaning "out of time," that
is, "improvised" or "not prepared in advance ." Yet it does not
imply lack of preparation . On the contrary, one carefully
selects and gathers his material and outlines it just as if he
were going to write out the talk, or, if written out in full,
it is not read from the manuscript, nor spoken from a memorized text . This, of course, means thorough preparation .
Wherein, then, is it extemporaneous? Not in its thoughts,
carefully gathered in advance, but in its unprepared wording. The speaker is well familiar with his subject . His mind
is filled with ideas on it, and in advance he has them orderly
arranged either in a detailed written outline or put to mind
in the form of a very condensed, brief, topical outline . Now,
at the time of the delivery, he extemporaneously puts these
thoughts into words .
2 There are three particular advantages in using this extempore method : (1) The outline is flexible and therefore
adaptable to different audiences and occasions . (2) Extemporizing stimulates the mind of the speaker . (3) The speaker
can be more direct, that is, he is enabled to maintain better
personal and visual contact with his listeners . It is particularly adapted for informal and conversational delivery .
3 On adaptability : The talk so delivered is not cast in a
rigid die from which he cannot depart, as in the case when
reading from manuscript or reciting the speech from memory .
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avoids repetitions, does not wander in circles, is not incoherent because of omissions of vital points, and is not so likely
to be guilty of inaccuracies of statements .
1O A fourth disadvantage of extemporaneous delivery is
claimed to be the colloquial and therefore presumably "inferior language" used . It cannot be denied that the language
of a manuscript lecture is more choice, less repetitious and
grammatically more precise . But such fine English is not,
as a rule, conversational . The very fact that one's English
in extempore speaking is not so eloquent makes for conversational style and use of the simple and plain everyday
language of the people . However, a cultured speaker should
never permit slang to creep into his talk, unless he knows it
to be such and deliberately uses it occasionally and humorously because of its peculiar expressiveness at times . Even this
legitimate use of slang should be very rare .
11
In preparing for extemporaneous delivery, make a brief
speech outline . If the subject is not involved and the talk is
of short duration, make a highly condensed outline, far
briefer than the one used in assembling and arranging the
material . Each main point is presented by a single key
word . Try to memorize such a topical outline, and as you
extemporize build upon it . Of course, it is not vitally essential
that the outline be memorized ; it may be on a small piece of
paper and held in the hand . The advantage, though, of a
memorized outline is an unbroken eye contact between
speaker and listeners, because he never needs to shift his
eyes between audience and notes . However, it would be
exercising caution to have a brief written outline handy for
use in case of emergency, that is, forgetfulness caused by
some interruption or an unexpected distraction .
12 Reading from script calls for several practice readings
aloud. Not so with extemporary delivery . In preparing for
delivery, silently build the entire talk in your mind from
the outline. Mentally fill it out by the needed details of explanation, argumentation and illustration . See that you have
all these points in mind and can make them march by in
their proper order in a final mental "review." Then you are
ready for extemporaneous delivery of the speech .
REVIEW : 1 . Define "extemporaneous," "extemporary," and "extempore" speaking . 2 . Enumerate the advantages of extemporizing .
3, 4 . Show with specific instances how advantageous is the adaptability
of speaking extemporaneously . 5. How does this method of delivery
stimulate thinking on one's feet? 6 . Why does extemporaneous speech
permit better personal contact with listeners? 7-10 . Point out the various
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Study 14
SPEAKING IMPROMPTU AND OTHERWISE
One of the main characteristics that distinguish men
from beasts is the ability to communicate ideas . The most
common and outstanding method of communicating ideas
is by oral speech . By the use of his versatile and agile tongue
man trades ideas with those around him during most of his
waking hours . Being theocratic ministers and highly concerned with using our voices to best advantage, it is fitting
that we compare various methods of speaking in order to be
able to employ the best method under any circumstance .
2 MANUSCRIPT READING . The pitfalls of manuscript reading
are many, and in most cases, under ordinary circumstances .
it is the evident demonstration of one's immaturity as a
speaker. A talk that is read by the ordinary speaker just does
not sound like conversation . Generally this is due to the
fact that usually the construction of a written composition
differs from ordinary everyday speech . The sentences are
longer and more involved, the expressions either more choice
or artificial and the natural rhythm of speech, dictated by the
necessity to stop for thinking ahead and for inhaling, etc .,
is sadly lacking ; likewise lacking is the modulation of faceto-face speech . The effect is crippling to an otherwise good
speech, for few persons read as well as they speak ; and no
matter how well one reads, the lack of constant eye contact
with the audience detracts from the effect . The personal sympathetic relation between speaker and audience disappears,
as the manuscript blocks visual contact with the audience ;
when the speaker confines himself to previously planned and
composed expression the spontaneity and directness of fresh
utterances die .
s There are occasions, however, when it is absolutely necessary to use a manuscript for delivery. Of course, the theocratic minister uses public reading at many occasions, as
when teaching the Bible to persons of good will, at the book
and the Watchtower study, etc. For that reason a lesson on
public reading is included in this handbook . However, it is
well to avoid reading a talk as a whole, whenever possible .
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4 MEMORIZED SPEECHES . This method combines all the disadvantages of reading from a manuscript along with some
of its own, while laying a doubtful claim that memorized
speaking would improve the visual contact with the audience .
However, memorized material, usually obvious to all that
it is memorized, often raises a barrier between the speaker
and the audience as serious as a manuscript . The speaker talks
not to the audience but at it . His mind is turned inward,
grasping for words and phrases rather than for thoughts
and ideas . The resulting blank expression of face and body
devitalizes speaker, talk and audience as well . The speech
comes out in a mechanical, stilted, elocutionary or oratorical
style, lacking the pauses and halts natural to the extempore
speaker (who gropes occasionally for words to express the
idea in mind), and the artificiality is all too obvious to the
audience . Serious among the dangers of memorizing is the
possibility of forgetting . And finally, the memorized talk is
rigid and has no adaptability to audience, rendering the reciter impotent to cope with unforeseen circumstances . The
theocratic minister will avoid memorized talks .
5 THE MIXED METHOD. This system of delivery combines
reading, memorizing and impromptu speaking with the basic
extemporaneous delivery, and is by far the best method of
delivery. Combining the advantages of all these methods, it
eliminates, for the most part, the main disadvantages of all
of them. In the introduction and conclusion where audience
contact is required, yet where strong, carefully worded statements are necessary, memorizing can be used . Where facts
and figures, quotations or scriptures are used, reading can
be inserted with telling effect, while impromptu ideas and
expressions add sparkle and life . Yet the basic method of
extemporaneous speaking carries the ideas to the audience
in a conversational way and allows enough flexibility to permit the occasional use of these other methods . Most talks
delivered extempore actually use the mixed method .
6 IMPROMPTU SPEAKING. The word "impromptu" literally
means "in readiness, at hand," that is, offhand, unprepared,
improvised . The real impromptu talk, the one in which the
speaker has absolutely no preparation, knows nothing about
the subject and depends entirely on the "inspiration of the
moment," should never be inflicted on any audience, especially by the theocratic minister . However, there are many
occasions, such as in house-to-house witnessing, on back-calls,
when doing incidental witnessing, at Bible studies, before
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Study 15
MICROPHONE SPEAKING
1 Do you realize that without God's wondrous gift of electricity and without the inventive mind and constructive power
with which he endowed man countless millions of people of
our time would never have heard the gladsome message of
Jehovah's kingdom? The invention of radio has made the
superhuman task of reaching them feasible . And did you
ever think on the fact that without the astounding publicaddress system our large assemblies would be greatly handicapped, if at all possible? Without electric voice amplification
we would have to resort to public speaking by human relay,
a slow and time-absorbing way of addressing a vast multitude by a great number of speakers distributed in a wide
circle around the central speaker and repeating after him
sentence by sentence . This was likely the human "publicaddress system" employed by Moses in the wilderness and
later in the Promised Land by Joshua and other leaders of
Israel.
2 Radio speaking is essentially simple, though it is not always easy to put the few rules on the proper technique into
practice . With few exceptions a script is a must for a radio
address . Just read it in an easy conversational way . Though
thousands of listeners may be reached, nonetheless the vigorous, enlarged conversational tone of the platform is needless
and useless . Electric amplification in the control room of the
station and by the volume control of the receiving sets can
give the voice all the loudness desirable . What is needed is
much practice in reading a script so it sounds just like trueto-life talk and an animated conversational tone without
much vocal enlargement . Why? Because over the radio one
ordinarily speaks to only one or two persons in the same
room, rarely to a larger group . To deliver a formal oration
to these few individuals would be entirely out of place .
3 When preparing for a microphone lecture, read it repeatedly, get the exact and full meaning of each thought,
underscore the words that receive the sense stress, become
familiar with each word, and look up and mark the correct
pronunciation of each unfamiliar word . Mispronunciation
over the radio reduces confidence in you on the part of informed listeners . Also practice reading of thought groups ;
avoid chopping them up . Live what you read and this will
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to adapt his volume dial in time . Do not speak too far away
nor too close. Again listen to the loudness of your voice from
the loud-speaker and whenever necessary adjust your position . Sweeping and emphatic gestures must be largely sacrificed . Heedless gestures might upset or damage the microphone . Substitute for descriptive gestures greater expressiveness and more colorful modulation of voice . Do not cough,
sneeze or clear your throat close to the microphone . A frightful noise from the loud-speakers will be the result . Rather,
lean backward, turn head aside and for further muffling the
sound hold the script at the side of your mouth nearer the
microphone .
a Modulation must be especially cultivated, because the
echo or lag of it from the loud-speakers has the tendency to
monotonize delivery . Speaking of modulation, it should be
added here that, for thousands of years, speakers when addressing a large gathering had to speak vigorously throughout in order to be heard by all. In order to avoid monotony
of that constant loudness they varied it occasionally by thunderous passages . To lend contrast to their volume by softness would have made them inaudible to many . Wondrous
electric volume amplification now finally enables a public
speaker to modulate his volume from thunder to a whisper,
to combine power with intimacy of tone, thus adding contrast, color, expressiveness and impressiveness to his delivery.
REvIEW : 1 . Why are radio and public-address systems so useful to the
publishers of the new world? 2 . Explain the essential basic requisites of
radio speaking . 3. What counsel is given as to the preparation for a
microphone lecture? 4 . What about the timing? 5 . Clearly state what
is the best manner of addressing a large visible audience over a publicaddress system . 6, 7. Mention further requirements and serious faults
to be avoided . 8. Why and how must modulation be particularly employed when using loud-speakers?
Study 16
VOICE IMPROVEMENT
1 We all can and should improve our use of our speech
endowment . In this we can be assisted very much by others,
and good counsel and suggestions that we may be given can
be a real aid to us if we give heed to them . Our own voices
are quite strange to our own ears, as is demonstrated by the
experience of each one who for the first time hears his voice
on a recording .
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Study 17
CONDUCT BEFORE AN AUDIENCE
I Self-consciousness is one of the greatest barriers to a
theocratic speaker who is blessed with the privilege of giving
a talk on the Word of God . Self-consciousness should not be
confused with the initial nervousness felt by each speaker
long before he begins to utter his first words . That nervousness that he feels in the beginning he should feel . It is normal
and felt also by every skilled and experienced speaker . Only
if possessing a reasonable supply of nervous energy will he
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Study 18
A POISED AND CONFIDENT SPEAKER
'Nothing leaves you so delightfully forgetful of self as
listening to a heart-warming talk . You are not thinking about
yourself ; at least, you should not be . Your mind is fixed upon
the speaker, drinking in his cheering and inspiring words .
Certain persons can be comfortable in most circumstances ;
but when it comes to giving a public talk, they get nervous,
terribly so at times . Moses was such a man . When Jehovah's
angel called on him out of the flaming thornbush and told
him that he was selected to go to Egypt to speak to Pharaoh
and the Israelites, his first thoughts were of himself : "Excuse me, Jehovah, but I am not a fluent speaker, neither
since yesterday nor since before that nor since your speaking
to your servant, for I am slow of mouth and slow of tongue ."
(Ex . 4 :10, NW) His greatest obstacle was himself, his
thinking of self . God told him so, in effect, when he said to
him : "Who appointed a mouth for man . . . ? Is it not I, Jehovah? So now go, and I myself shall prove to be with your
mouth and I will teach you what you ought to say ."-Ex.
4 :11,12, NW .
2 Such words of Jehovah should inspire theocratic speakers .
Why? Because what we cannot accomplish in ourselves, Jehovah God promises to supply . Right along this same line,
Jesus said : "I will give you forceful speech and wisdom
which all your opposers together will not be able to resist
or dispute ." (Luke 21 :15, NW) The primary need, therefore,
is not eloquence, but trust and reliance on Jehovah and his
promise to help us in our efforts to become a confident
speaker.
3 Negative thinking before or during a talk is one of the
greatest drawbacks to a public speaker . To turn one's thoughts
inwardly, to think about one's weaknesses or inabilities will
drive one to nervous prostration . Negative thinking makes
a potentially good speaker look and sound bad . The right
way to think is positively, which means to think objectively .
Not to think about one's weak self, but about God, his unlimited power and might .
4 The approach to the platform and the podium should
be made with confident expectancy of God's help, and not
dread . If not carefully guarded against, all sorts of negative
and cowardly thoughts will project themselves into a be-
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to be natural . Be yourself, no more, no less . Your chief concern should be, not what others are thinking of you, but
what you are thinking .
11 To acquire poise fully one must practice inner repose
every day and every night, when at home and when at work,
when witnessing from door to door in your ministry or when
making return visits to people interested in the truth, or
when conducting Bible studies, in short, at every opportunity .
When speaking be poised . When listening, be poised . Make
the confidence you have in Jehovah become evident in your
speech . If you practice the art of such good speech daily,
it will not desert you when on the platform . Be fully aware
of the reason why you were called on to speak . The idea will
move you to speak freely and fluently . It will register with
the audience and they will enjoy listening to you . You will
be an able messenger to deliver the greatest message of all
time with becoming confidence and poise.
REviEw : 1-3 . Show and illustrate what is one of the worst drawbacks
in public speaking . How can it be conquered? 4. Are there any good
suggestions on how to think positively? 5, 6 . What else will help a
speaker to feel at ease and confident on the platform? 7, 8 . Define and
illustrate poise . 9. Advise how one can acquire that desirable natural
poise and friendly ease . 10. How does an audience echo the speaker's
own mental attitude? 11 . What further suggestions are there on how
to develop poise and confidence?
Study 19
OVERCOMING DISTURBANCES
1 One of the best gifts of our loving Creator to man is
the ability to speak, to convey thought and feeling, information and instruction, to speak of him, his greatness and
loving-kindness and to praise him with our lips . To do this
under normal conditions is an art ; but to do it well under
difficult conditions and even when facing hostile opposition
shows that a speaker is mastering the art of public speaking .
2 Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron to go before
Pharaoh and his court and to speak there publicly all that
he had commanded them . That was certainly carried out
under very adverse conditions . Ezekiel was commanded to
speak to the Jews whether they would hear or forbear. Other
prophets likewise had to address themselves to the nation
of Israel and their rulers under both favorable and unfa-
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monotony . This, though, must not be overdone lest his strategy becomes obvious to the entire audience . A last resort is
to give sleepy ones from time to time more personal attention by addressing oneself to them more directly . Usually
this will soon make them fully awake .
7 Latecomers are a frequent annoyance to most gatherings .
Those in attendance who possess good self-control do not
bother to give late arrivals any attention . But others will
turn away their eyes and ears from the most respected
speaker and follow all latecomers until they have found
empty seats . This interference can be reduced by reserving
some seats near the entrance for latecomers and by previously instructing attendants to be alert and quietly helpful .
S
In some locations street noises often become bothersome
and interfere with undivided attention and audibility of what
is said on the platform . Most of such noises are only temporary and can be overcome by the speaker's use of greater
volume ; and if the interference is too noisy to be thus overcome, he should pause until it passes . Even if he should be
thus interfered with repeatedly he ought to remain goodnatured, speaking without showing any irritation in words
or intonation .
9 The most difficult situation to cope with is planned heckling or attempts to break up a public meeting . It usually
starts with sarcastic remarks or open vicious contradiction .
In most instances attendants will go over to the disturbers
and urge them to be quiet, and, if unsuccessful, will show
them the way out, or, when resisted, will forcibly remove
them . Yet sometimes wary hecklers place themselves in the
middle of a row where they are rather inaccessible . Then
the speaker should restore order . However, he must never
retaliate with like ungentlemanly behavior . "Answer not a
fool according to his folly, lest you also become like him
[a fool] ." (Prov. 26 :4, AT) The speaker should never lose
self-control . Such show of weakness will weaken his effectiveness . He should keep calm, maintain poise and never contradict or argue with a heckler . It would result in disorganized
wrangling, dividing the audience into factions and upsetting
the assembly . So tell the heckler with firmness that you do
not question the sincerity of his conviction or his good
right to voice his views in the public . But not in a hall that
was not rented by him . Besides, the public has come, not
to hear him, but a Bible lecture, and not a debate . Then
continue your discourse .
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Study 20
GOOD EVERYDAY SPEECH
1 "May the words of my mouth . . . be acceptable before
thee [please thee, Mo], 0 LoRD ." (Ps . 19 :14, AT) These words
express the desire of every servant of Jehovah and member
of the New World society, to be able to speak well, acceptably and pleasingly to their Creator while offering up the
fruit of their lips in daily making public declaration to his
name . It is therefore vitally important for the theocratic
minister to speak well, and to do it daily in order to be
pleasing to Jehovah .
2 One requirement in speaking the Kingdom message is
to have an expressive countenance that illuminates what one
is saying and speaks even without words. So let your face
"talk." (Eccl . 8 :1, Mo) The old system of things uses the
phrase "money talks," meaning that money speaks without
actually having or using a mouth ; it accomplishes things
without speaking a word . For the face to convey thought
it is necessary for the publisher to look directly at the one
being spoken to, since it is the first point of contact . And
since most persons judge by first impressions it is of importance to create a favorable impression right from the very
start . Shifty-eyed movements do not make good contacts or
speak well . They give the impression of shyness, self-consciousness, insecurity, lack of earnestness and conviction, and
even of dishonesty . A long face and a sour or "dead-pan"
expression do not fit the good news . Good news makes one
happy and radiate with gladness, thus showing the effect the
truth has upon us. Friendliness often begets like friendliness .
3 This truth is glorious . It is without peer or equal . Being
unmatched, it deserves our most worthy efforts . Choice and
proper words and grammar at times seem to be inadequate
even at their very best . After we receive proper training in
theocratic ministry, care should be used in choosing clear
and expressive language and grammar. Ideas should be expressed in right and simple words, easy to grasp, whether
conveying vital knowledge to others in door-to-door witnessing, at back-calls, on Bible studies, and talking to our brothers
or to men of all kinds .
4 Good language means the elimination of bad . The proverb
says : "Perverse words put away from you, and crooked
speech put far from you ." (Prov. 4 :24, AT; Eph . 4 :29) The
theocratic minister does not try to set a standard of language,
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not even his own. He has the highest standard to copy and
follow, and that is the Bible, and also its most able exponent
and champion, the Watch Tower literature . To practice poor
diction, to slur words, to drop endings of words and be careless in pronunciation will lower not only the publisher in
the estimation of the listener, but, more important, it will
take away from the message and fail to honor Jehovah . If
we do not use good speech in our daily lives it will not come
easily or naturally when on the platform or before others in
witnessing to the truth. We shall find ourselves "putting on"
and actually groping as a blind man does for an object when
attempting to find correct, choice and acceptable language .
Instead of its being precise and superior, it will be inferior
and vague . In learning to speak well every day, try to make
brief and pointed comments at various meetings in the Kingdom Halls ; discuss the truth with any one and every one
whenever the opportunity affords . When it comes to telling
of man's only hope, the new world, be an extrovert and not
an introvert . Practice good speaking habits daily .
5 Another daily requirement is poise . This is a well-balanced
state of mind . It means controlled thinking before speaking
and acting, the mind ruling over body and emotions, keeping
both in check with a firm spirit at all times . It is scriptural ;
"keep completely balanced ." (1 Pet. 1 :13, NW) This means
to stay on the track . You may be accused of having a "onetrack mind." If it is the "Kingdom" track, all is well . If anything suddenly looms up threatening to derail you, what
should be done? Think and act coolly and collectedly ; it
will be calming to you and to the person being preached to
as well. Remaining serene and unruffled without being perturbed, even in the presence of an opposer, shows the right
spirit and displays wisdom from above . "A fool shows instantly that he is angry : a prudent man ignores an insult ."
(Prov. 12 :16, Mo; 17 :27, AT) Righteous indignation may
boil up, and it may be difficult to refrain from displaying it ;
but to do so is most beneficial to all concerned, whether inside the congregation or to persons who are potential sheep of
the Lord . (Heb . 12 :14) No one will be stumbled and truth
will prevail . Giving vent to an angry spirit, however justified
we may feel to do so, does not add to the attractiveness of
the Kingdom message . Why be guilty of it?
6 We are off to a bad start and are headed in the wrong
direction from the beginning if we find a person has the
wrong understanding about certain matters and we bluntly
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tell him so. Will this gain a hearing ear? Hardly! Who likes
to be told he is wrong? Would it not rather be much better
to follow the advice at Proverbs 13 :15, AT : "Good conduct
[tact, Mo] wins favor"? Tact, artfully used, will aid one to
speak well every day . To impress upon the listener a little
truth at first is better than none at all . Erroneous beliefs
that persons may wrongly hold can be overlooked and ignored at first. Contradicting at the outset is not conducive
to spreading accurate truth . We must try to convince those
not favorably disposed with fact and gentleness . (2 Tim .
2 :25) First select just one subject for discussion and stick
to this fixed point ; keep it in view always ; never lose sight of
it. Do not deviate from it and do not ramble, but make every
word count . Thus you will obtain with a minimum of effort
a maximum of results .
7 The same is true of all our ministry, whatever it may be .
Though we may feel in the morning we have a hundred things
to accomplish that day, we can do only one at a time effectively . The same goes for instructing someone in God's truth .
Find the interests of the person to whom you are speaking,
that is, the things he likes to do or talk about . Thus meet
him on his own grounds . He is familiar with the subject
and is not hesitant to discuss it and he feels confidently at
home. It is from this common ground or beachhead you can
lead to the fixed point. In trying to locate such interest give
persons an opportunity to talk and express themselves . Do
not think that everything that appeals to you appeals to all .
Learn and know how to find the spark of interest in persons,
their responsive chord, and then play on it . This will help
you to speak well and to carry the listener along irresistibly
to the theocratic goal .-Matt . 10 :16 .
s As to good everyday speech the Scripture says : "He who
spares his words has true wisdom ." (Prov. 17 :27, AT; see
also 10 :19, Mo.) "A fool's voice is known by [a] multitude
of words ." (Eccl . 5 :3) So do not tread a wordy path or beat
around the bush as you try to arouse the interest of persons
who are in the wilderness of this old world . Merely to fill
the ears of the listeners with great volumes of speech is
like trying to fill an overnight case with a wardrobe large
enough for oversea travel, or pour a potful of liquid into
a cup . It would prove too much of a burden to carry or contain it all . So no matter how reasonable your discussion may
be, or how much good it would seemingly accomplish, it will
simply run into one ear and spill out of the other, proving
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MEETINGS
Study 21
HOW TO BE A CHAIRMAN
1 The meetings conducted by Jehovah's witnesses are the
most important gatherings that take place on the face of
the earth . They are meetings of the highest educational
quality, and have the most elevated objective . Though the
things said and done at these meetings by the speakers
or the participants are carefully planned and well executed,
much of the effectiveness of the program may be lost if the
chairman does not take care of his duties . So the chairman
can have much to do toward the success of a meeting .
2 When the congregation servant plans for public meetings
in his territory he should not neglect the duty of appointing
a chairman for each location where these meetings are being
held . Upon the chairman fall many responsibilities that will
greatly increase the enjoyment of those attending . In the
first place, the chairman should see that the meeting hall is
ready ahead of time . He is interested in being sure that the
proper number of chairs are on hand and in place, also that
the hall is clean, chairs dusted and everything arranged
orderly. In cold weather he sees that heating in the room
is adequate . And one of the things not least important is
ventilation . If proper ventilation is not arranged for and
carefully watched and controlled during the meeting, the
effect will be either one of stuffiness and drowsiness for the
audience or some will be subject to drafts and the danger
of taking cold . The chairman will be sure there are attendants
to watch these things.
3 He is responsible for co-operating with the servants in
having a proper display of literature, so that those of the
public may see the Society's publications and be able to obtain them at the public meeting hall . He should see to it that
attendants are there to seat persons of good will coming in,
and for taking a count of the attendance and handing him a
report .
4 The appearance of the platform has much to do with
the enjoyment of the programs ; so he should also have the
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platform ready, a speaker's stand or a table, chairs or anything necessary there, and see to it that everything looks
as presentable as possible under the circumstances . If sound
equipment is needed, he should also check to see whether
this is on hand and operating properly . If music is played
before the lecture, it is his duty to see that it is arranged
for and that the music is appropriate, something that contributes to the peacefulness of the occasion, providing an
atmosphere proper for the hearing of a Bible lecture . Jazz
music and singing of worldly songs, with their words that
adulate human creatures, should be avoided .
5 He should also find out what booklet or magazine is to
be given to the public, something that covers the points in
the talk, and have it in the hands of the attendants, to
be distributed as the good-will persons leave the hall .
6 Since the talk is advertised to begin at a certain time,
it is the chairman's duty to start the meeting on time . He
may open with a brief welcome, stating who is sponsoring
the talk (the local congregation), the speaker's name and
that he is a minister of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society, and the subject of the talk. But his introduction
should be brief, not dealing with the subject matter of the
talk, but merely introducing it by title and bringing the
speaker before the audience as quickly as possible .
7 It would be good for the chairman of the meeting to acquaint himself with the outline of the talk so that in case
of an emergency he will be able to fill in and give the talk
himself. His closing remarks after the speaker has concluded
should also be short and to the point . He should avoid commenting on the talk, making statements from it or summarizing it or eulogizing the speaker. The closing remarks
should contain information for those attending that will increase their desire to attend other talks or other meetings
of the local congregation, and to talk with Jehovah's witnesses present and become acquainted with them .
$ Circuit assemblies, district assemblies and conventions
arranged by the Society have a Society-appointed chairman .
This one should obtain a copy of the program before the
assembly begins and make out a chairman's program . He
should know exactly what songs are going to be used at
each session and furnish the music servant with a copy of
this information . He will arrange beforehand which brothers
he is going to ask to lead in prayer, having these near the
platform so that they can lead in prayer over the public-
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13 All these responsibilities require much advance preparation and constant alertness on the part of the chairman, but
such are the things that help make the meetings and conventions of Jehovah's witnesses a delight to those attending
and a source of amazement to the world .
REVIEw : 1 . Why are the chairman's duties important? 2, 3 . What must
the chairman supervise as to the meeting hall for public lectures?
4, 5. What arrangements will he take care of as to the platform, music
and literature? 6 . To what will he confine his introductory remarks?
7. What will be the substance and purpose of his closing remarks?
3 . At assemblies, how will he make out a "chairman's program"?
9 . What check should be made before each session of the assembly?
10. What information should he have at hand? Why? 11 . What information should he supply to the public-address-system and platform servant?
12, 13 . The chairman really plays what part in assemblies?
PROBLEM : Prepare opening and closing remarks to be made at a
public meeting.
Study 22
PUBLIC MEETINGS
1 Public meetings play a large part in preaching the good
news of the Kingdom to all the world . They have enabled
Jehovah's witnesses to reach many people who otherwise
would not have heard the Kingdom message, and have
helped greatly in the expansion of the New World society
in all lands and in all languages . The purpose of public
meetings is twofold : first, to give the people a chance to
hear a discussion of the truths of the Kingdom and to have
a taste of the knowledge that Jehovah's witnesses have that
makes them the happiest people on earth ; second, they serve
the purpose of establishing Bible studies or building up
existing studies in the area in which the public meeting is
held. People hearing the truth discussed at a public meeting
are prepared for and drawn toward having a Bible study
or attending a Bible study arranged by the congregation .
2 Since the purpose of public meetings is as above described,
it follows that they should be arranged for and held in every
part of the territory possible . It is not enough to have meetings in merely one part of the territory and expect people
to come from far and wide to attend . No, if we are to get
the benefits of the public meeting arrangement to the people
we must have these meetings in their neighborhood, so that
they will realize that a talk on the subject advertised is
being held in their own neighborhood, and that they can
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marked effect than what the speaker has said . Also the very
fact that the witnesses of Jehovah are themselves present
hearing the talk is a testimony to the importance of the meeting and its educational benefits . The people of good will see
them there and realize that they, too, should hear and become educated, New World-minded .-Mic. 4 :1, 2 .
a The alert speaker will be very careful in selecting and
preparing material for his talk . If he takes the Society's
outline and reads it over carefully it will aid him in gathering material . He can see what outstanding points must be
developed . He can get the theme well in mind and how the
outline develops that theme and emphasizes it throughout .
He should have this theme and the outline impressed upon
his mind before he starts preparing the talk itself . Then
having determined what points are to be highlighted, he can
begin to be on the lookout for appropriate material . He will
then be aware of what is going on in the world, noting
relevant items in the news, thinking of applicable Scriptural
arguments, so that he can make his talk up to date and
suitable to the problems of our day.-Isa. 50 :4.
6 In arranging his talk he should always follow closely the
Society's outline, because if this is developed properly it will
make the most effective talk . It will harmonize with the
other public talks given throughout the world to give a timely and definite, intensive witness and warning to the people .
The best public speakers make their talks very simple, striving mainly for clarity, understandableness . This talk is primarily for persons of the general public and those of good
will, and they need the simple milk of God's Word, not being
able yet to stand the strong meat of the deeper things of God .
Illustrations are excellent and will give life and variety to
the talk, as well as making it more understandable . Scriptural illustrations are best .
7 Besides the public and persons of good will, Jehovah's
witnesses attend these talks . It is good to hear the truths
rehearsed again, even in simple explanation . It refreshes
our minds, gives us excellent review material from the Society's publications and helps us to be more effective in explaining the truth to others . The speaker, in developing his
talk, should consider the brothers who will be present . He
can insert points of argument, explanation and illustration
that the publishers can use in the field . Application of scriptures, new ways of viewing a proposition, new ways of presenting argument on it, are very helpful to them . Thus the
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speaker not only helps the public but helps the brothers in
their ministerial work .
8 The speaker will find that he will give a better talk, he
will be more spirited, if he spends the day in the service prior
to giving the talk . Then his mind will be awake and he will
have the feeling of witnessing, a grasp and command of his
subject, with enthusiasm, and thus able to reach the minds
of his listeners . He will present the truths in a kinder, more
heart-stirring way . He should remember the dignity of the
public meeting work and make the best possible presentation,
not only in appearance, but in the caliber or quality of his
speech . He will avoid use of slang, vulgarity or lower forms
of expression. One can overbalance a speech by being too
humorous or by using too much nontheocratic material . Or
he can make a talk too factual or statistical, producing dullness . The effective speaker will keep his presentation on the
high plane of Scripturalness, as a minister should, relying
upon the Word of God to draw the other sheep . A good talk
will bring honor to Jehovah's name, not to the speaker .
-Heb . 4 :12 ; 1 Cor . 2 :1-5 .
9 While a public talk should be given with dignity and in
the proper atmosphere, yet the talks given in the homes,
such as at congregation book studies, may be more informal .
Here friendliness, simplicity and clarity, with conversational
quality, cannot be overemphasized . Such a talk will make
the new ones in attendance feel closer to the others present
and will lead them toward attending the congregation book
study. Usually these talks at congregation book studies are
limited to about forty-five minutes and then a short session
follows, demonstrating how the book study is carried on, so
that those attending may get a taste of our methods of study .
They may desire to continue in attendance .
10 Thus we see that the public meetings require considerable
attention on the part of the congregation servant, the chairman, the speaker and all of Jehovah's witnesses in the congregation . To make these a success, let all work together
in unity .
REviEw : 1 . What is the purpose of public meetings? 2 . How can public
meetings be located to benefit the territory most? 3 . (a) What is an
essential part of the public meeting work? (b) Of what advantage is it
to make every effort to get good-will persons to attend? 4 . Why is it
so important for the publishers to attend public meetings? 5 . With what
thoughts in mind will the speaker gather material for his talk? 6 . What
will guide him in arranging material? 7 . How are Jehovah's witnesses
helped by hearing these talks? 8. What counsel is here given to ensure
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Study 23
INSTRUCTIVE SERVICE MEETINGS
' Of all the meetings of Jehovah's witnesses the service
meeting requires more work on the part of the servants than
any other . When we attend conventions and circuit assemblies we see some very good, practical, instructive service
meetings . These are intended as models for us . Why are
these meetings good and effective? It is because those who
arranged for the meeting worked hard, they gave thought,
they applied the Society's counsel to the service of the circuit, they considered the weaknesses of the circuit and they
arranged a program that would show the practical, workable
way in which these weaknesses could be overcome .
2 This means that the responsibility is upon the servants
of the congregation to exert effort to apply the Society's
counsel to the local congregation and its territory, to be
alert in considering at all times the needs of the congregation . Mainly responsible for the success of the service meeting is the congregation servant, but he need not be alone in
planning these meetings . He has the assistant servants and
other active publishers to call on in planning and carrying
out features for a good program .
3 As soon as the monthly Informant arrives, the congregation servant will study it carefully and apportion parts
of it for his month's meetings . In assigning these parts he
should consider the servants to whom they apply . For example, if an article deals mainly with back-call work, it
would be turned over to the Bible study servant . If it deals
also with magazine work, part could be assigned to the
magazine-territory servant .
4 It will promote unification and instructiveness for the
program if the congregation servant explains to each one
assigned how he wants the part handled at the meeting,
whether it should be by questions, with answers from the
audience, a talk or a demonstration . He may also give the
brother an idea of the main points he desires to have emphasized . It is preferable to make the assignments in written
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Study 24
"WATCHTOWER" STUDY MEETINGS
'Private personal study of The Watchtower is essential to
our spiritual health and well-being . But one cannot stop
here and say that he has fully assimilated the spiritual food
therein provided . He must attend and take part in the congregation study as counseled by Jesus . (Matt . 18 :20) There
Jehovah's spirit operating on his organization is specially
manifest. With this viewpoint in mind, how should the congregation Watchtower study be conducted for the greatest
benefit to all?
2 The conductor should make brief preliminary remarks
stirring up interest in the main points that will be developed
during the study . He may do this by raising three or four
questions that the study will answer, questions that capture
the theme of the assignment for study . If the study is a continuation of an article started the week previous, he might
very briefly restate the high points established in that previous study and connect it up with what is to be next considered. His opening comments should not be lengthy : no
more than two or three minutes .
3 After starting the study itself, he will propound the
printed question for the first paragraph of the assigned study,
found at the bottom of the page . Those in the audience may
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Study 25
CONGREGATION BOOK STUDIES
1 Just as each and every part of a human body is necessary
and must function in harmony with the rest of the body, so
the congregation book study is a definite part of the organization that Jehovah God has established among his people
of the New World society . It is as much a part of the organization as the Watchtower study, service meeting and other
features of the congregation . It serves a very special and
helpful purpose . Each congregation has its Watchtower study,
service meeting and theocratic ministry school, usually at the
headquarters Kingdom Hall, but the congregation book
studies are held also at other strategic places, called "service centers," throughout the territory, to aid those who may
not attend the headquarters meetings as well as those who do .
It is really an extension of the organization into all parts
of the congregation's territory .
2 The places selected for studies may first be the Kingdom
Hall, then homes of publishers . These studies should be located in places where they serve groups of publishers, so that
none will have to travel far to attend . Homes selected should
be clean and neat, such as will be a credit to our theocratic
meetings and to which we can bring newcomers . All those
who attend meetings in private homes should show proper
respect for the householder and his property . If possible, the
home should be one that can be open as a Sunday morning
service center and perhaps at other stated times for field
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Study 26
THE THEOCRATIC MINISTRY SCHOOL
1 Each congregation of Jehovah's kingdom publishers will
find it to its profit to pursue this course of study as one
of its group activities . The majority of those attending the
meetings at the Kingdom Hall are active in field service.
They have made a dedication to do God's will, and hence come
under the terms of the Christian's commission . It being mandatory upon them to fulfill this commission, meek publishers
who trust fully in Jehovah and lean upon him for guidance
and direction and strengthening help will desire to avail
themselves of this provision . They will not wish to be found
rejecting any provision of Jehovah and thus come within
the class of persons who say by their course of action : "The
table of Jehovah is contemptible ." (Mal . 1 :7, AS) In eagerness and with appetites whetted for Kingdom instruction all
will assemble at the classroom and partake of the course as
it is spread before them .
ENROLLMENT
2 Each male person, young or old, who attends the meetings
of the congregation and who desires is qualified to enroll .
The school servant will act as chairman of the school and
will call the roll at the beginning of the meeting and give
counsel on each student talk . A record of attendance will be
permanently kept by him . No one should be dropped from
the roll for nonattendance or for not giving the student talks
assigned until every effort has first been made to help him
take advantage of his privilege . Small congregations composed entirely of sisters should assemble in the same way
and read and discuss the material for that week . In this way
they will have a profitable group study of the provisions of
the course. There will be no enrollment or roll call, nor will
any of the sisters give talks .
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INSTRUCTION TALKS
The school servant will assign capable brothers to give
the instruction talks, giving some himself also . The one assigned to this talk will not merely read the material, but
must study it carefully, make it his own and present it to
the group by the method of delivery known as extemporaneous speaking . If time permits he should work in examples
and illustrations that are not in the material, and give explanations of the instruction being given .
a
STUDENT TALKS
Following the instruction talk will come student talks .
Each one enrolled in the course will from time to time present
before the class these student talks . Speaking subjects will
be designated by the Society, and the local school servant
will make the individual assignments to those enrolled . This
assignment will be made at least three weeks in advance,
in writing . It will be the responsibility of the student to make
diligent preparation by carefully gathering the material,
outlining it and practicing his delivery, and then be on hand
at the assigned time to present it extemporaneously (some
may have reading assignments) . The school servant should
see to it that a schedule is made up so that all those enrolled
are given an equal opportunity to speak .
5 The student should look upon the opportunity to give a
student talk as an occasion to put into practice all he has
learned in the course. He must realize that it is only through
application that theory and expounded principle become of
practical value . In addition to making use of all the suggestions as to gathering material and outlining and presenting
it, the student should give attention to the timing of his talk .
It will train him to spare words and speak to the point . The
school servant should have someone time the student speakers, and when the full time has elapsed a signal indicating
"time's up" should be given . The speaker, after he finishes
that sentence, should be seated .
4
COUNSEL
Counsel by the school servant will follow each student
talk . In presenting counsel the counselor should always be
kind and considerate . His points should be well taken and
not picking at minor matters . The counsel should be constructive. If a student's sense stress in a certain place was
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poor, the counselor should not merely state that the speaker
failed to use proper sense stress . He should repeat the phrase
or sentence himself, giving the correct emphasis and explaining why it is preferable . He might even have the student
repeat it after him . If the principles of outlining have not
been followed, the school servant should not tear down the
student's presentation by saying that he had no outline, or
his coherence was faulty, or his introduction or conclusion
was inadequate, but the instructor should point out the specific fault in the student's talk and show how the proper application of outlining principles already learned would correct
the difficulty . If coherence was lacking, let the instructor
show what transitional words or phrases might have been
used to bridge the gap . In this way the instructor renders
real constructive aid, and not only the student speaker but
also the other students and those sitting in on the course
are edified .
7 Another point the school servant should watch is, do not
pick out all the faults, all the mistakes of a speaker . If the
student's errors have been many, such a thorough going
over of them will tend to discourage him . Rather than being
exhaustive in this respect, the wise counselor will pick out
one or two, perhaps, of the outstanding faults and draw
these to his attention, instructing him to work on these
points in his next talk . The Speech Counsel slip should be
clearly and specifically marked as to good and bad points .
Before the speaker starts, the outstanding weak point brought
out in previous counsel may be mentioned so that the student
can strive to improve and the audience may be able to look
for improvement there . Let the student work on one or two
things at a time, and as these shortcomings are erased the
instructor may counsel other points that may come to the
fore then as the main weaknesses .
8 It is also good for the school servant to give encouraging
words along with his constructive criticism . If a student has
used good modulation or perhaps followed a very logical
outline, let the servant comment on these points . But here
again the counselor should be specific, showing the whys
and wherefores for his commendation .
9 It is not the servant's duty to give a rehash of the student's talk. He should be brief and to the point in his counsel . It is not necessary for him to go over the points of the
student's introduction or body or conclusion . If the counselor
does this not only will he exceed his time limit and thus set
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Study 27
RADIO AND TELEVISION PRESENTATIONS
1 With the whole world as the field, in the short time before Armageddon Jehovah's witnesses are very busy publishing this good news of the Kingdom in all nations for the
purpose of a witness . In doing so they use every means at
their disposal, so that all may have the opportunity to hear .
Among the modern advances in this electronic age are radio
and television . These have been a help to God's ministers .
Before Armageddon comes there may yet be much opportunity to use these means of communication further . We should
be on the alert to take advantage of such opportunities .
2 Public relations servants in the circuits of Jehovah's witnesses have received information from the Society to enable
them to know the proper method of approaching managers
of radio and television stations and arranging for time on
the air. This lesson, therefore, will be devoted to the preparation of material and the manner of presenting it .
3 Since time on the air is valuable and limited, one must
have something to say to the people . This means that he must
prepare carefully so as to say the most effective words in
the time allotted . Besides this, he will usually need a manu-
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tion may be given to guide the one who will interview you extemporaneously? 8. What manner of delivery should we use? 9 . Before the
presentation what should, by all means, be done? 10, 11 . State points
of counsel here given as to impromptu interviews . 12, 13 . For television,
how can we make the presentation more effective? 14 . After the program, what should be done?
PROBLEMS : Prepare a five-minute interview for : (a) a radio presentation, (b) a television presentation .
COMPOSITION
Study 28
CONDENSING
1 "So what do you want? Get to the point!" said the lady
at the door. She was impatient because she did not think
the Kingdom message worth her time and attention ; yet her
request was justified . Jehovah's witnesses, of all people,
should be able to get to the point and should be able to
discuss their message, purpose and doctrine briefly and relevantly. The ability to get to the point often comes from just
having a clear understanding of the matter in one's own
mind. Furthermore, a knowledge of the principles of condensing will aid one to select the most important facts and
present such exclusively and clearly.
2 The clergy of this old world are long-winded ; the representatives of the new world should be able to follow the Biblical admonition, "Let your words be few ." They should not
'darken counsel by words,' nor make themselves like those
who "imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many
words ." (Eccl. 5 :2, AT ; Job 38 :2 ; Matt. 6 :7, NW) Too many
words, too detailed an explanation, may confuse our hearers
rather than enlighten them . We must give them something
to think about, something they can remember, a sample of
the good things from Jehovah's table that may whet their
appetite for more, using clear, brief explanation so that we
shall never confuse them .
3 Understanding the principles of condensation will, therefore, help us in our talks and in our field witnessing, and
is a daily need of the Kingdom publisher . Condensation can
sharpen the vital points and make them stand out and thus
make us better ministers of the gospel.
There are various kinds of condensation, each described
by a different word . Of practical value is to know the following ones : A summary presents only the main or essential
points ; a brief states concisely the points of an argument, as
in law ; an epitome gives the briefest possible condensation
of the whole matter. Every epitome is a summary, but not
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Study 29
THE ART OF WRITING
1 Almost anyone who appreciates art can admire some great
skyscraper or a quaint home in the country . But it is the
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Study 30
BUILDING YOUR COMPOSITION
1 Now that we have some knowledge of parts of speech,
we go to the next step in building a good composition, that
of putting together words, phrases and clauses into sentences .
A sentence must express a complete thought . Therefore, it
must have a subject and a predicate, either expressed or understood ; and it may have modifiers and independent elements . All sentences categorically fall into one of four kinds :
declarative, imperative, exclamatory and interrogative . Any
sentence that makes an assertion or declaration is a declarative sentence and for end punctuation receives a period . A
command or a directive sentence is an imperative one and,
likewise, receives a period at its end . The exclamatory sentence is used to express strong emotion and, therefore, requires an exclamation mark for punctuation . The interrogative sentence is the question and always ends with a question
mark.
2 As stated above a sentence must have a subject and a
predicate, expressed or understood . The subject is the person
or thing spoken about ; the predicate is that which is stated
concerning the subject . We find that generally sentences are
made up of phrases and clauses that go to make up the subject and the predicate . Phrases and clauses may be of various
types . A phrase, which is a group of related words, but not
containing a subject or a predicate, may be divided into four
classes : prepositional, infinitive, participial and gerundive . To
identify the phrase it is necessary to determine the classification of the words introducing it .
3 We come to a more nearly complete part of a sentence, the
clause . A clause is a group of words containing a subject and
a predicate. It is considered as a part of a sentence, but when
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it is capable of standing alone it is equivalent to a simple sentence. Thus, we can say clauses are of two kinds, independent
(also called main clause or principal clause) ; and dependent
(also called subordinate) . If the clause can stand alone and
express a complete thought, it is an independent clause . However, if the clause does not express a complete thought, but is
dependent upon additional material to complete its meaning,
it is a subordinate or dependent clause. Here, too, we find
that by bringing together combinations of clauses we can get
various types or classifications of sentences . Hence, one
independent clause makes a simple sentence . By bringing together one independent clause and one or more dependent
clauses by means of a subordinating conjunction, such as
when, if, after, etc., we have a complex sentence. Two or more
independent clauses joined by a co-ordinating conjunction or
simply a semicolon form a compound sentence. The compoundcomplex sentence consists of two independent clauses and
one or more dependent clauses .
4 Still there is a classification of sentences according to the
arrangement of their material . This classification includes
the periodic, the loose and the balanced sentence . A periodic
sentence is one in which the main thought is not given until
the end is reached, until the last word is spoken . Its use lends
emphasis to the thought . Different from this is the loose sentence . The loose sentence gives the main thought and then
adds details . It is the rambling type much used in everyday
conversation. It could be brought to its grammatical end before the actual conclusion is reached and still be complete
and make sense . The balanced sentence is one of either comparison or contrast . Because of this it is generally a compound sentence, namely, one having equal clauses to compare or contrast . If comparison is the aim, parallelism is said
to be used ; if contrast is desired, it uses antithesis . In this
sentence the balance is not necessarily limited to clauses,
but may also be apparent in the phrases and words . The
balanced-type sentence also lends emphasis to sentence
structure.
5It is often said that too much of the same thing is not
good . Because of resultant monotony, that saying has merit .
To have variety in the choice and use of sentences, then,
would be necessary . Lack of sentence variety might weigh
down or make heavy an otherwise interesting talk or composition . It follows then that a wise speaker or writer would
not use all long sentences nor would he use all short sen-
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COM POS I T I O N
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4 . Explain the following : a periodic sentence, a loose sentence, a balanced sentence . 5 . Why is sentence variety necessary? 6 . Give some advantages of short sentences ; of long sentences . 7 . How may a paragraph
be defined? 8 . How long should a paragraph be? 9 . Name different
ways of developing paragraphs . 10, 11 . Define coherence and explain
how it may be attained .
PROBLEMS : 1 . Look for illustrations of the various ways of developing paragraphs . 2 . Take a paragraph from any publication and illustrate
various types of phrases and clauses and sentences .
Study 31
WRITING BEFORE THE FLOOD
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called Shinar around the two Biblical rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates . It is the area between these two rivers that archaeologists have found to be what they call "the Cradle of Civilization ." Here in the Mesopotamian valley remains of preflood writing have been found . The deeper the archaeologists
have dug into these ruins the more they are amazed at the
suddenness with which civilization of a high order burst upon
the world . Notable is the presence of the commonness of
writing in those days before the Flood . Thousands of records
imprinted on clay tablets give us information as to the everyday life of the people of that time . Archaeologists have dated
these writings back to 3500 B .C ., or several hundred years
before Adam died.
4 On a number of these tablets have been found references
to cities, namely, Eridu, Larak, Sippar, Badtibira and Shuruppak . The Bible proves there were cities before the Flood .
Cain was designated as a builder of a city called Enoch,
named after his son . When we think of cities we usually
have in mind the business and hustle and bustle involved
with city life . The records on these preflood tablets seem to be
dealing with just that-the records of the everyday life of people, their business transactions, contract making, etc . While
the Bible does not expressly say so, it is likely that Adam
traveled around visiting various cities and becoming acquainted with various newcomers on the scene. One of these
was a man called Tubal-cain, a man who, according to the
Bible, was a "forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron ."
-Gen . 4 :22, NW .
5 In other words, Tubal-cain was a businessman . He probably had quite a business built up making tools for different
trades, etc . Another prominent businessman before the Flood
was Jubal. Genesis 4 :21 says that he was the founder of all
those who handle the harp and the pipe . Music making was
undoubtedly quite popular in the days shortly before the
Flood when wickedness was great upon the earth . In the writings of Adam, in the second book that he wrote, he mentions
the above happenings . In fact, among the last events he
recorded in his history was Tubal-cain's occupation . Genesis
2 :5 to 5 :2, containing the record of Adam's writing, then,
covered the period of man's creation up to the time of Tubalcain and Seth . Adam died shortly after he wrote his history,
in the year 3096 B .C .
6 After Adam's death the numerous arts of music making,
pottery making and toolmaking continued to progress and
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Central America and the Aztecs of Mexico all had some form
of pictographic writing . Isolated as they became from the
"Cradle of Civilization" many of these peoples never progressed from their forms of pictographic writing, which writing, of course, was sufficient for them for their needs .
4 However, in and around the place of the confusion of
tongues, it would seem that the cuneiform writing prevailed
and remained .
5 In the area around the Mesopotamian valley great cities
sprang up. Babylon, Accad, Nineveh, Ur of the Chaldeans
-all became cities of advanced civilization . (Gen. 10 :9-12 ;
11 :28, NW) Dynasties of kings ruled them . These cities had
temples for false worship . Closely connected with these were
the libraries of the cities . Archaeology has unearthed hundreds of thousands of clay tablets of every description . Many
of these were filed away in earthen pots for reference and
study. They contained religious texts, title deeds, legal
matters, mathematical and geometrical problems, astronomical data, lexical tablets used for textbooks for teaching, and
many others . All these tablets were in two different cuneiform writings, either the Akkadian (Babylonian), or the
Elamite (Susian) .
e It was during the time when Ur of the Chaldeans was
enjoying a high level of civilization that Abraham was born,
in the year 2018 B.C . (Gen . 11 :27, 28, 31, NW) Seventy-five
years later Abraham was called by Jehovah God to leave Ur
and go to a land that God was to give to him . Now, for
Abraham to have any connection with Jehovah God meant
that Abraham had to have some knowledge about Him . Faith
must be based upon knowledge, and Jehovah would not have
called upon Abraham if he had not had faith in him . Where
did Abraham learn of Jehovah and his promises?
7 Shem, one of Noah's sons, was the man through whom
Jehovah had promised that the Seed should come . Shem was
an energetic man who championed Jehovah's pure worship
as against Nimrod's false worship . Abraham could easily have
heard Shem's defense of Jehovah's true worship and accepted
it . It would be faithful Shem to whom Noah would have given
the creation tablets of Adam and the one he, Noah, had
written . Just as easily could Abraham and Shem have had a
clay-tablet study of the events from man's creation to that
time . At any rate, because of his faith Jehovah approved
Abraham and called him out of Ur of Chaldea .
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Study 33
HEBREW BIBLE COMPOSITION
1 Jehovah God spoke to Adam in a perfect language . It was
a language capable of expressing perfectly the thoughts of
a perfect man made in God's image . It was a beautiful language, one with charm and rhythm, color and forcefulness .
That original language was later called "Hebrew ."
2 After man's disobedience and his being cast out of the
garden of Eden, his language, like all other things pertaining
to him, began to degrade . Even so, from Adam to the time
of the Flood there was probably very little change in the
original language . After the Flood, when Jehovah brought
about the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel, it was
not necessary to confuse the language of those devoted to him
in right worship . Hebrew remained unchanged . From Shem to
Abraham, the Hebrew (Gen . 14 :13, NW), to Moses' time the
language undoubtedly changed, but not appreciably . It was
still an uncontaminated language ; it did not have to borrow
from other languages for expression . Consequently, the
Hebrew of Moses' day had all the force, originality and depth
that Jehovah meant it to have when he spoke with Moses
in that language . Jehovah's composition written on the two
tables of stone was perfect Hebrew, and, though being such
Hebrew, could still be understood by Moses .-Ex . 31 :18, NW .
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jugations in two fundamental states, the perfect or historical state-that is, for action completed-and the imperfect or
indefinite state, which denotes action incompleted . Both of
these states may be found for verbs in Hebrew, but they have
nothing to do with time as our simple and compound tenses
would have it today . It is not a question in Hebrew of when
something happens, but whether the thing is completed or
certain to be completed, or not . As an illustration take the
following sentence : "If you tell me to do this, I have done
it ." "If you tell me" is in the indefinite state : that is, any
time you tell me in eternity, past, present or future. "I have
done it" is in the historical or perfect state, although it refers
to a time in the future after the telling has been done .
Though referring to the future, the one who puts the expression in the perfect form thereby means it is as good as done .
10 We have already referred to Hebrew as being poetic in
expression . In Hebrew, what characterizes poetry more than
meter is parallelism, and parallelism is rhythmic movement
of thought, not necessarily likeness of sound . In Hebrew
poetry one finds rhythmic movement of thought, which
is much more important and is more pleasing to the ear
than merely the rhythmic movement of sound . In the Psalms
we find good examples of this parallelism of thought . Psalm
105 :8-15, when read without the parallel thought in the line
underneath the fIrst line of each verse, would sound like
prose, not poetry . But read it with both lines of each verse
as it is in the Bible text, and the parallelism of rhythmic
movement of thought is immediately apparent .
11 Hebrew was only one of the Bible languages that Jehovah God used for writing the sacred Scriptures . When the
Israelites became unfaithful to Jehovah and were rejected
and taken into captivity, they came to forget Hebrew, and
it almost died out as a living language . Aramaic took over
as the national language for a time, to be supplemented later
by Greek as an international language . We leave a discussion
of Greek composition for the following chapter .
REVIEW : 1 . What kind of language did Jehovah bestow upon man?
2, 3 . (a) Explain what happened to man's language after Adam's disobedience. (b) How is the fact to be explained that Hebrew changed
little from Adam to Moses when compared to other languages? 4 . Why
will a study of Hebrew composition be of value to us? 5 . Describe Hebrew as a language . 6, 7. Give several examples of the emotion involved
in the Hebrew verb . 8 . How does Hebrew attain its emphatic quality?
9 . Explain the two states of Hebrew verbs . 10 . (a) What is so outstanding in Hebrew poetry? (b) Give examples . 11 . Why did Hebrew
cease as a Bible language?
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Study 34
GREEK BIBLE COMPOSITION
During the days of Jesus Christ while he was on the earth,
Greek was the international language of the peoples . Go,
as you would, into any part of the then-known world and
Greek was spoken and understood . Mainly for that reason,
the part of the Bible that dealt with that period of time
was written in Greek . With the exception of the Gospel of
Matthew, all the Christian Scriptures were written originally
in Greek. Matthew first wrote his book in Hebrew, but later
he translated his own writing into Greek . A short study of
Greek composition, therefore, will be of value to us in appreciating some points of Greek as used by those men in
Jesus' day .
2 As a language Greek is a very exact and specific one. The
"koi'ne" Greek of Jesus' day was highly developed and, therefore, the best medium for exact expression of thought by the
world of that time . But let it be understood at the outset
that the Greek of the Christian Scriptures was not the classic
Greek of the aristocracy of any one people . Rather it was
the common Greek ("koi'ne") of the man on the street that
the apostles and disciples could read and understand . It was
this "commonness" that made it the international language
of that day .
3 One of the outstanding features of the composition of the
language is its use of the definite article . The definite article
with a word shows that that word belongs to a particular
person, object or thing . The definite article is used to make
what it modifies outstanding from its surroundings ; when
the definite article is omitted it leaves the word in the field
of generality and draws attention to the quality expressed
by the word rather than applying the word to something
definite.
4 As an illustration of its use we might refer to
The Em-p.:ah3t2JicoDng8l Here a word of abstract meaning is involved . What is the abstract word? It is "truth ."
There is much truth all around, such as truth in science, in
history, in archaeology, and in this, that and the other field
of fact. But when Jehovah's witnesses ask about someone, "Is
he in the truth?" they do not refer to truth in its general
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application . They refer to the truth concerning the vindication of Jehovah's name by his kingdom under Christ . In the
same way, at John 8 :32, it was very appropriate that the
definite article be used by the Lord Jesus Christ in order to
bring the term "truth" into a restricted field, meaning something exclusive . So we read the Diaglott's interlinear translation of the text, and it says : "And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free ." Hence the modern translation in the column alongside puts the word "TRUTH" in all
capitals both times .
5 One of the most important parts of speech of any language is the verb . It is doubtless the most difficult part
of speech to master. This is no less true of the Greek . The
ancient Greek had a great variety of verb forms . It had a
number of voices and tenses and modes . To gain the exact
shade of meaning of each verb it is necessary to consider
these . In the Greek the verb tenses express not only the time
of an action or state but also the kind of action, whether
starting out, or continuative, or repetitious, or completed at
a certain point. Note the shades of meaning as brought out
in the following illustrations in the New World Translation
o f the Christian Greek Scriptures .
s An excellent example of the continuative action, where
action started in the past is still going on at the present, is
found at John 5 :17 . The King James Version reads : "My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work ." But the New World
Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures reads : "My
Father has kept working until now, and I keep working ."
Other examples of the continuative present are found at
John 17 :3 (NW), Matthew 16 :4 (NW), Matthew 5 :44 and
6 :33 (NW) .
7 Let us go on to the imperfect tense form . The imperfect
tense in Greek may express not only the start of an action
that continues, but also an attempt to do something . To show
this, we read from Hebrews 11 :17 (NW) the following : "By
faith Abraham, when he was tested, as good as offered up
Isaac, and the man that had gladly received the promises
attempted to offer up his only-begotten son ." The correct sense
of Abraham's attempt is thus depicted through the proper
rendering of the verb, whereas the King James Version
uses the simple past tense and says, "he . . . offered up Isaac ."
8 The Greek also has a peculiar tense called the "aorist ."
It is found in no other language . Aorist is derived from the
particle "a," which is privative and corresponds to our Eng-
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lish particle "un-," and from the verb horizein, from which
our English word "horizon" is derived . Horizon denotes the
limit of vision, the boundary of our extent of sight . Hence
aorist means having no horizon or limit, indefinite, unlimited,
not bounded . The aorist tense leaves the verb indefinite, not
so much as to the time, but as to whether the action was
continuous or was brought to a completion . It refers to the
action or state described by the verb as merely a fact, as occurring, not as to its being an accomplished fact all completed,
but as occurring .
9 To illustrate the fine shade of meaning of this tense and
the proper rendering of the aorist into English let us consider
1 John 2 :1 in The Emphatic Diaglott . Note the interlinear
reading under the Greek text : "Dear children of me, these
things I write to you, so that not you may sin ; and if any
one should sin, a helper we have with the Father, Jesus
Anointed a just one ." The Diaglott`s emphatic translation
alongside this interlinear reading is about the same . But
according to the Diaglott, the King James Version and
American Standard Version, it might refer to a course of sin
or practice of sin . But in both cases of the verb "sin" the
apostle John used the aorist tense, which calls attention to
the fact of the action . It does not refer to it as a continuous
thing, continually practiced, and also not as an accomplished
and completed thing, but refers to an act of sinning . Hence
the real thought of the apostle John is, as brought out in
the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures :
"My little children, I am writing you these things that you
may not commit a sin . And yet, if anyone does commit a sin,
we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous
one ." The aorist tense expressed in English shows, then, that
the preferred thing is that the Christians do not sin at all .
But if they should perpetrate an act of sin, they have an advocate or helper with the heavenly Father and that One is
Jesus Christ the Righteous One, who is able to offset our
shortcomings .
10 One last point about Greek verbs is the periphrastic
conjugation or the roundabout way of saying things . Looking
to the proper usage of this form enables us to safeguard
against error in doctrinal matters . The following is in point
at Matthew 16 :19 (NW), where Jesus says to Peter : "I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you may bind on earth will have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you may loose on earth will have been
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Study 35
GOOD WORD CHOICE
1 The minister of Jehovah God realizes that he knows
something that must be told to others and praised to all
creation . To do justice to his praising and describing he desires a good word choice . It is valuable to his ministry . There
is no lack of words to enable him to do this . To appreciate
that one has only to look at a large unabridged dictionary,
to view the thousands upon thousands of words contained
therein . Yet the average individual will admit his vocabulary
or range of word usage is small indeed, to compare with the
thousands of words available . So the problem with many is,
how can I increase my range of words in order to be able
to choose the right word when I want it?
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7
There is more to good word choice or selectivity of words
than merely building up one's vocabulary, however . The wise
man Solomon said : "Like apples of gold in a setting of carved
silver is a word that is aptly spoken ." (Prov . 25 :11, AT)
The question now arises, When is a word "aptly spoken"?
There are several things that might be considered to determine this . One is the audience . The considerate speaker will
always choose words that will be understandable to the least
educated listener in his audience . It would defeat the purpose
of the speaker to do otherwise . The modern-day witness of
Jehovah has in mind the same desire to teach and preach as
did Jesus and the apostles . This teaching must be in language easily understood, in plain and simple speech . It must
not be done with the intent to call attention to oneself by use
of flowery speech, high-sounding words that show off the
knowledge of the speaker. If one does find it necessary to use
an unfamiliar or technical word in his speech or writing,
then he should qualify it with simple expressions or phrases
that will give it sense and meaning to the audience . The
apostle Paul, who was learned and well versed in language,
acknowledged that it was on the part of wisdom to use
words easily understood .-1 Cor . 2 :1 ; 14 :9 .
8 The occasion or place would also come under consideration for determining the aptness or fitness of word choice .
If the occasion is one of happiness and joy, use words that
express those qualities . On the other hand, if the occasion
is one that requires a certain amount of dignity, as at a
funeral talk, always choose simple straightforward words
fitting to the topic . Good word choice, then, is something
each minister should diligently strive for . His equipment
to do so should be a good dictionary to which to refer . The
speaker would need it to check for pronunciation and stress ;
the writer, for spelling and syllabication . A handy book of
synonyms and antonyms for quick reference could be obtained .
REvIEW : 1 . Why is a good word choice vital to one of Jehovah's witnesses today? and what problem confronts most of us when it comes
to the use of words? 2 . How can we increase our vocabulary? 3 . Besides
adding new words to our vocabulary, what good suggestion is here
offered? 4 . Show how the right shade of meaning may be attained .
5, 6 . (a) What is slang, and how should it be treated? (b) What is a
"colloquialism"? 7, 8 . (a) How do we know when a word is "aptly
spoken"? (b) If it is necessary to use technical words, what should
always be done? (c) How would the occasion govern word choice?
PROBLEM : The instructor should assign out a number of words and
have the students look up synonyms and antonyms for the words .
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Study 36
LETTERS
Almost everyone has written a letter. It is usually a substitute for spoken conversation, which makes it the form of
composition most commonly used .
2 Letter writing is certainly not a modern means of communication . Modern archaeology has brought to light the
fact that letter writing was carried on extensively before and
after the Flood . Indeed, the common, everyday events of the
lives of families, businessmen and other officials have been
vividly brought to light through these letters . Then, too, the
Bible gives us the information that letters were involved in
the lives of many of the faithful men of old, as well as the
people of the nations around about them . (2 Sam . 11 :14 ;
Esther 8 :10, 14) The apostles and disciples of Jesus' day
wrote many letters, a large number of which went to make
up a portion of the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures . And
in our modern time Jehovah's witnesses have many occasions
to write letters to business associates and to personal friends .
It can even be said that letter writing is as old as writing
itself, as we consider the sixty-six books of the Bible as letters
from our heavenly Father Jehovah God, the One who invented
writing .
3 Letters may be generally divided into two classes, business
and personal . They may be formal or informal . Because many
of Jehovah's witnesses have occasion to write business letters
for the purpose of securing halls for assemblies, or to answer
letters in newspapers, or because invalids write letters to persons of good will for the purpose of giving testimony to the
truth, we shall first consider the business letter .
4 A good first thought in writing such a letter might be,
What materials should I use? If possible, it is best to write
all business letters on white paper, 82 by 11 inches . This
size is preferred for handling and filing . The color of ink can
reflect good taste, too. One does well to avoid the use of
gaudy-colored inks like green, red and purple . Blue-black and
black are the best colors . Choose a pen that is not scratchy
and that does not blot while writing . Let any personal letterheads be within the realm of propriety. All these points can
operate favorably on the receiver of your letter .
s While all business letters may not be written in the same
style, most of them will have the following parts : the heading,
the inside address, the salutation, the body, the complimen1
COMPOSITION
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COM POS I T I O N
147
John Witness
Bayview Congregation
111 Columbia Drive
Brooklyn 1 N . Y .
February 26, 1955
Watchtower Society
117 Adams Street
Brooklyn 1, N . Y .
Dear Brothers :
Referring to our remittance dated November 27, 1954, totaling $145 .60 (one hundred forty-five dollars and sixty cents),
you will note that of this amount $60 .20 (sixty dollars and
twenty cents) was to be applied toward our literature account .
In checking our statements for December it is noted that this
amount was not credited to the literature account .
An order for literature was sent on this same date,
November 27, including cash items amounting to $40 .75 (forty
dollars and seventy-five cents) . We have received our literature, with the exception of the 70 copies of "Let God Be True`' .
See invoice number C14076 .
The person designated below has advised us that she is
not receiving her Awake! magazine . This was sent in or Subscription Record Sheep number 141, dated January 7, 1955 .
Her name and address is : Mrs . J . Smith, 1001 Hamilton Street,
Brooklyn 7, New York .
Thank you for your attention to the above . We rejoice
to be working with you as a part of the . New World society .
Your fellow servant,
Congregation Servant
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Study 37
READING
Just as the physical body subsists on food, so the mind
subsists upon and is built of the mental food that it takes
in . If one eats good, wholesome, nourishing food his body
is built up and strengthened . If he eats poor, contaminated
food, his body is poisoned and becomes sick . Just so with
the mind . If one takes in wholesome, upbuilding mental food
his mind is built up, but if he takes in poor, contaminated
mental food his mind is bound to become weakened, sickly .
2 Let no one think he is strong enough to take in poor food
for his mind and avoid mental weakening, just as no one is
able to take in contaminated material food and avoid physical
weakening ; for just as the stomach digests physical food,
so the mind ruminates on and digests the mental food taken
in, and it has a definite effect upon the mind ; it goes to make
up the mental characteristics . This would mean, then, that
ministers of Jehovah God will be selective in their reading
and will confine themselves mainly to better reading . They
should not be narrow in their selectivity to the extent that
they are confined to only one kind of reading ; they should have
a rounded-out reading program . But Jehovah's organization
provides a great portion of what is necessary for this . The
Watchtower gives us the strengthening spiritual meat, which
is food served at its proper time and the proper kind of food .
(Matt . 24 :45-47) Awake! brings us variety in mental food by
extending its scope out beyond purely Biblical things to other
things that God has provided for man's enjoyment . The
bound books published by the Society give us Bible instruction
in a more comprehensive and thoroughgoing way in developing a big theme or subject of God's Word . Then, of course,
there is the Bible itself, undoubtedly the best of spiritual food .
3 One also wants to keep his mind alive to what is going
on about him ; so he is interested in the news . But here again,
be selective . Read the papers that really give news, not just
the sensational news, such as murders and all the filth and
degradation of this world . What is upbuilding, necessary or
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Study 38
HOW TO STUDY
1 All of Jehovah's witnesses are disciples or learners . They
are in the great school of success, of which the teaching
faculty are Jehovah God and Jesus Christ . How will they
succeed unless they study? Personal study is the fundamental,
foundation part of their lives as ministers of God . They must
have spiritual discernment if they rightly serve him ; yes, they
must have it to get life . They want to be as mature and
efficient as possible and to make the most of their study hours .
Therefore they must know how to study.
2 A definition of study is : To set the mind upon a subject
systematically to learn it for future use ; to make something
an object of consideration with a view to action . This requires
diligent mental application and meditation . Jehovah's servants have aids to study that none of the outside world have .
These things are : the spirit of Jehovah, and his Word ; his
organization supplying the Watch Tower publications explaining the Bible ; and actual experience by application in the
field .
3 For our study to be lastingly effective it must be such
that it will build up memory . Memory is more than mere retention . It includes the ability to recall the experience at will .
Therefore when you study, do it with a view to improving
your recall ability. Four things applied in study will benefit
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Study 39
STUDYING "THE WATCHTOWER"
1 There cannot be the slightest doubt that the Bible is Jehovah God's Word of direction to his people . It is his letter
of instruction to them and it contains all that is necessary to
qualify his ministers for proper service . (2 Tim. 3 :16) The
teaching of his people comes through Christ Jesus by means
of God's spirit, his Word and his organization . Jesus spoke
of the time when he and Jehovah would be recognized as the
Teachers of God's people and said : "Who really is the faithful
and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics to give them their food at the proper time? Happy
is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so ."
(Matt. 24 :45, 46, NW) Now, since the Lord's coming to the
temple, this has actually taken place . So the "faithful and
discreet slave" has, as a letter or way of getting this information to God's people, the Watchtower magazine . This class
of faithful ones also has the commission recorded at 2 Timothy 2 :2 (NW) : "The things you heard from me with the support of many witnesses, these things commit to faithful men
who in turn will be adequately qualified to teach others ."
By studying The Watchtower together with the Bible we can
be adequately qualified to teach others.
2 The Watchtower is usually written in one of two styles,
the commentary style, a verse-by-verse discussion of a Bible
chapter or dramatic picture or prophecy, or the topical style,
in which there is an assembly of various texts bearing on one
main subject. We do not have time to read the Bible to learn
what it says on one subject. Surely every time a new subject
arises we cannot read the entire Bible to take into our view
all the texts relating to that topic . However, within the few
pages of a Watchtower article many texts on certain subjects
are brought together . Truly it is a timesaver .
3 Not only does this method save time, but it makes for
systematic teaching, for rapid learning . Basic truths are
called to notice, and, upon these, additional truths are built
up to complete the picture . Then events and conditions in the
world today are placed alongside Bible prophecies and it becomes clear that the former are fulfillments of the latter .
This lets us know where we are in the stream of time, that
we live in the last days, that soon Armageddon will sweep
aside this old world of wickedness to make way for God's
new world of righteousness . The divine requirements for one's
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Study 40
USE OF WATCH TOWER BIBLE HELPS
I "'And test me now in this way,' says the LORD [Jehovah]
of hosts, `and see if I will not open for you the windows of
the heavens, and pour out for you a blessing until there is
no more need .'" (Mal . 3 :10, AT) Nothing but the very best
could come from such a blessing of Jehovah . His promise is
that there should be no lack of good things, nor should there
be an end until the need for such things will have been met .
And what is this blessing and when should it corre? A reading
of the context of the prophet's words shows it had to do with
food from Jehovah's house ; that it would be at the time of
the presence of the messenger of the covenant who would
come to see this food poured out to those hungering for the
truth .-Mal . 3 :1, 10.
2 The most outstanding and foremost Bible help today is the
one studied by Jehovah's witnesses world-wide, and that is
the Watchtower magazine . (See The Watchtower, October
15, 1953.) From its first issue in July, 1879, to this very year
the Watchtower magazine has been devoted solely to announcing Jehovah's New World government . Faithfully it has reflected the ever-increasing flashes of light of Bible prophecy
from the temple of God by the reigning King, Christ Jesus .
(Rev . 11 :19) As understanding increases and prophecies are
fulfilled so does The Watchtower progress and keep up with
the light of truth, which "is like the light of the dawn, that
shines ever more brightly till the day is full."-Prov. 4 :18, AT .
3 As a Bible help the Watchtower magazine is a timesaver.
It makes use of all available Bible helps to bring together material on vital Bible subjects . The very latest information on
Bible manuscripts, archaeological findings, and, yes, even
scientific knowledge, which proves more every day the
authenticity of the Bible, is referred to, bringing its readers
in touch with the physical facts of fulfilled prophecy in our
day . Whereas the average individual would not have time
or the resources for detailed research himself, The Watch-
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the foremost Bible help today? 4 . How can this magazine supply information for various talks on various subjects? 5 . (a) Explain the use of
the subject index and the scripture index of each December 15 issue .
(b) Show how the section devoted to "Questions from Readers" can
be of valuable aid to the Bible student . 6 . Of what value is the chronology chart in the Bible aid "New Heavens and a New Earth"? 7 . Why
should every library contain the three books herein discussed? 8 . How
would you use the booklet Basis for Belief in a New World for
explaining the truth to someone unacquainted with the Bible?
9-11 . (a) Illustrate how the Watchtower Bible maps can be useful for
study along with the other publications of the Society . (b) Name some
of the uses of the book "Equipped for Every Good Work" . 12. Until how
long shall we need the use of such Bible helps?
PROBLEM : Illustrate the use of the Watchtower subject and scripture
index by assigning out subjects and scriptures to be looked up for
gathering material .
Study 41
USE OF CONCORDANCES
1 Where is one who can say that he has a perfect memory,
one who can say he never forgets anything? Such a person
would be rare indeed, no matter how good his purpose and
intentions may be . And what better purpose could a creature
have than to want to remember all possible of God's Word,
the Bible, and to be able to call to mind the innumerable
scriptures once read and studied for preaching? But in spite
of good intentions we admittedly have weak memories . To
aid us we should know how to use a Bible concordance . Its
diligent use will help to make up for our forgetful memories .
2 Just what is a "concordance"? Looking at the preface of
an early edition (1737) of Cruden's concordance we learn
"A Concordance is a Dictionary, or an Index, to the BIBLE,
wherein all the words used through the inspired writings are
arranged alphabetically, and the various places where they
occur are referred to, to assist us in finding out passages, and
comparing the several significations of the same word ." A
more recent definition is : "An alphabetical index of words,
showing the places in the text of the Bible where each principal word may be found, with its immediate context or surrounding words in each place ." The mere explanation of a
concordance should make the average minister appreciate
the use of one . It would save him time .
3 There are three main uses of a Bible concordance . First,
a concordance is used to locate a particular known text that
the memory fails to call to mind . Referring to the exhaustive
concordance, one could not help but eventually run across
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Dictionary, whereas the upright or Roman-type numerals refer to the Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary appearing in the
back part of the volume .) Referring to the Greek Dictionary,
we find the word "world" in our text to be the Greek word
aion, which means either a "system of things" or an "age,"
and not the globe we stand on . Satan is, in fact, "the god of
this system of things ."
10 Another reference to the term "world" has to do with
the destruction of one . This is at 2 Peter 3 :6 (AS) : "by which
means the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished ." Again going to the Greek Dictionary, following
the concordance number 2889, after "world," we come to the
Greek word kosmos . In the Greek this means "orderly arrangement" or "organization ." What the apostle Peter had
in mind, when writing under inspiration, was the destruction
of the satanic preflood organization of wickedness . Satan's
world of that time perished, and he had to reorganize another
after the Flood .
11 Still another word is translated "world" from Greek . This
word is under Concordance number 3625, as shown by reference to the scripture at Revelation 16 :14 (AS) of the main
body of the concordance . It reads : "For they are the spirits
of demons, working signs ; which go forth unto the kings of
the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of
the great day of God, the Almighty ." "World" or oikoumene,
as here used in the Greek, signifies the "inhabited earth ." It
appears, then, that Satan, the Devil, has certainly deceived
the nations of all the inhabited earth and will shortly lead
them against Jehovah God and his Son, Christ Jesus, in battle .
A fourth Greek word translated "world" is listed in the concordance as 1093, and is ge, which means "earth." At Revelation 13 :3 it refers to the symbolic earth, the people inhabiting
the earth.
12 To appreciate properly the extensive aid that can be given
by use of an exhaustive concordance, one would do well to
read the introductory matter at the beginning of each separate feature in the concordance .
13 Do you want to be an alert and efficient minister fully
equipped? Then add the use of a concordance to your personal
study and research along with all other Bible helps .
REVIEW : 1. What impresses upon us the need of a Bible concordance?
2. What is a concordance? 3 . Explain the use of a small concordance
through locating principal words of a text . 4 . Show how a "theme"
may be developed by using a concordance . 5, 6 . Illustrate the use of
a concordance in a comparative study of a given subject . 7, 8. What are
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Study 42
BIBLE DICTIONARIES
1 More than ever before in recent years the increase of
knowledge and the abundant discoveries by archaeologists
of Bible places and towns, Bible manuscripts and artifacts
have opened up new avenues of information and study for
the Bible student . Moreover, the Bible itself is a never-ending
source of new things . It contains information on every imaginable subject dealing with the affairs of entire nations and
civilizations involving the daily life and customs of peoples .
Whereas it mentions many items of interest, it does not always supply details about them . To locate additional information, thus increasing one's appreciation of the geography
of Bible places, the meaning of names and the topography
of land, often pertinent to points in Bible prophecy, a Bible
dictionary is of value. Used rightly, it can be an aid to the
minister of Jehovah God.
2 Just how can one make a Bible dictionary work for
him in his ministry? There are a number of ways . Often
an outline of a talk to be given to a congregation will include a point requiring a detailed explanation to present a
clear picture . Take, for example, the Bible record of Rahab
and the two spies of Israel . The record at Joshua 2 :6 (NW)
shows that the house of Rahab had a flat roof . Consultation
with a Bible dictionary shows that, quite different from house
roofs of today, it was the custom of the people of those times
to have flat roofs for their houses . Thus stalks of flax could
be laid out in rows to dry and afford a hiding place for the
two Israelites . The record says that the spies were let out
of the window of Rahab's house down the wall upon which
her house was built . Does it not sound strange that a house
should be built high up on a wall of a city? Referring to the
subject city we find that in Hebrew terminology a city referred to a collection of permanent human habitations,
whether few or numerous, especially if surrounded by a wall .
Such walls were often very thick, being, according to some
authorities, from twenty to thirty feet across . It can easily
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be seen that Rahab's house was built upon such a wall with
the window of her house facing outward .
3 Other references in the Bible to cities show that it was
a good thing for each city to be built upon a hill, or (Hebrew)
tel . (Jer. 30 :18, AS) Harper's Bible Dictionary comments on
this as follows : "Jerusalem today gives us many clues as to
the appearance of any city of Bible times, the immensely
stout stone walls . . . high elevation above valleys, with steep
glacis on the E . and S ., etc." Jerusalem was such a city built
upon a hill, Mount Zion, and was noted for its natural defenses and its protected water supply .
4 Many times geography plays an important part in prophecy . We read, at Revelation 16 :16 (NW), that the war of
the great day of God the Almighty is mentioned as being
fought at Har-Magedon, or Armageddon. The mere fact that
Jehovah's great battle is named Armageddon should arouse
interest as to why. What significance is there to the name
Har-Magedon? Again consulting Harper's Bible Dictionary
we learn that the name Har-Magedon means "the Mount or
Hill of Megiddo" or "the Hill of Battles ." It goes on to say,
"The importance of Megiddo was due to its domination of the
intersection of two vitally important ancient trade and military routes ." The hill of Megiddo overlooked the pass through
the mountains between the plains of Sharon to the south and
the plains of the valley of Esdraelon to the north . Anyone
controlling the pass was in position to be victorious in
battle . It was here in ancient times that Jehovah God fought
decisive victories for his people, completely overwhelming
the enemies of the Israelites . Thus Har-Magedon well pictures
the day when Jehovah, controlling the situation completely,
will decisively strike at his archenemy, Satan, and all his
hordes, destroying them as his enemies aforetime .-Judg.
5 :19,20.
5 Many of the more modern Bible dictionaries have much
to say regarding up-to-date archaeological discoveries . One
such is Harper's Bible Dictionary, which lists the discovery
of the Moabite Stone . It is noted as being "the largest single
literary document yet found, outside the Bible, dealing with
Palestine and East Palestine ." It is of interest to the Christian
minister for, though it is written in Moabite characters (similar to Hebrew), it contains the tetragrammaton, or name of
Jehovah . It corroborates the Bible account at 2 Kings 3 :4
about Mesha, king of Moab, having to pay Ahab, king of
Israel, tribute of sheep. Other Bible places are mentioned
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on the stone. Such points of archaeology, although not depended upon by the Christian minister today for faith, do
contribute supplementary proof for many, and can be used
for talks.
6 Again to show the value of a Bible dictionary to supply
details for interesting talks and explanatory material, note
the following Bible references and then check in a Bible
dictionary . It is surprising to some to read in the Bible that
houses were painted rich, brilliant colors in ancient times .
(Jer. 22 :14) Marble floors and tiles of varied hues added
much to the palaces and homes of many . (Esther 1 :6, AS)
Those in high positions were able to maintain summer houses
as well as winter houses for their pleasure and ease . Bible
descriptions show that these were magnificently outfitted
with ivory furniture, ebony pieces and gold inlay work . (Amos
3 :15 ; 6 :4 ; Ezek . 27 :15-24) All types of tapestries, carpets,
cloths and pillows were provided for the comfort and beauty
of the homes . (Amos 3 :12 ; Prov . 7 :16, 17 ; 31 :21-24, AS) When
it became uncomfortable, due to the cold, heaters were provided for warmth . (Jer. 36 :22, AS) Evidently some of these
homes of ancient peoples of Bible times paralleled and even
outclassed some of the homes of this "modern" day .
"For those who found it necessary to travel from one
place to another there was a good choice of the mode of
travel desired . (Isa . 66 :20) And why should one worry about
departure time? The servant could always remind one by
referring to the sundial by the steps . On the journey itself
the way was safely marked out by the highway signs put up
as markers and guides for the convenience of travelers .-Jer .
31 :21, AS .
8 How about work? What occupations did people of olden
times have for livelihood? Shipbuilding was a very important
trade for many . Others were specialists in guiding or piloting
ships in and out of harbors, and the ever-present professional
sailor was evident at every port . (Ezek . 27 :4-9, 26-29 ; Isa.
33 :21, 23) A dignified trade was that held by the prophet
Amos-that of a tree dresser of sycamores (fig trees) before
Jehovah called him as his prophet . (Amos 7 :14, AS) Still
others were brick makers (Nah . 3 :14), masons (1 Chron .
22 :2), engravers (2 Chron . 2 :14), musical-instrument makers
(2 Chron. 9 :11), some were barbers, as evidenced by mention
of the items of their trade (Jer . 41 :5 ; Ezek . 5 :1) . A diligent
man could find any number of professions and trades to put
his hand to for providing for home and family . Looking up
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these items in a Bible dictionary can provide much, much interesting material for amplification .
9 An aid such as a Bible dictionary is only of help if one
is at hand, available for ready use . Most libraries in the
Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's witnesses today have them,
and all are encouraged to use them for research . However,
there are a few comments in order here as to some of the
dangers of such "helps," as to where they could do more harm
than good . The mature minister would have little difficulty in
determining what was in accord with Jehovah God's purpose
and his Word, the Bible ; but what about the novice? Care
should always be exercised by the minister in recommending
such an aid to those newly interested in the truth, especially if the information desired should be of a doctrinal
matter. To illustrate, very few Bible dictionaries today have
accurate chronology charts . They will give the year 537 B .C.
as the time King Cyrus issued the decree for the return of
the Jews to Palestine for rebuilding the temple . But instead
of accepting the Bible prophecy which foretold the Israelites'
being in captivity during 70 years of desolation of their land
(which would make the year of the desolating of Judah and
Jerusalem 607 B .C .), they give the date 586 B .C . as the year
of its desolation . In this they err .-The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, pages 108, 109.
10 There may be other instances where Bible dictionaries
will ignore the Bible rule and simply give a private opinion
or interpretation . Parts of the Bible are altogether rejected
by some dictionaries, or they intimate that such records are
nothing more than stories or myths handed down . Such socalled "higher criticism" must be guarded against and rejected by the minister of Jehovah God .
11 It can be seen, then, that Bible dictionaries can be useful
to the minister when he desires information on history, geography, archaeology, occupations, daily life of peoples, etc .,
but that they can also be misleading if taken at face value on
chronology, points of doctrine, and dependability for accurate
knowledge . Always remember to use the Watch Tower Bible
helps as your touchstone for the good that can be obtained
out of such references as Bible dictionaries .
REVIEW : 1. What can be found in a Bible dictionary? 2 . Illustrate
how a Bible dictionary supplies additional thought on the Bible account
of Rahab and the two spies. 3 . What point of interest does a dictionary
supply on "cities" ? 4. Show how a Bible dictionary can supply information on points of geography . 5 . How is archaeology dealt with in Bible
dictionaries? 6-8. Name some Biblical items that a Bible dictionary could
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Study 43
OTHER STUDY HELPS
1 When is becomes necessary to go beyond the use of Bible
dictionaries and concordances for information it leads one
into a variety of other helps, such as Bible cyclopedias, books
on archaeology, historical references such as Josephus' Antiquities, treatises on Bible manuscripts, comparisons of modern science and the Bible, and many others . At times the occasion arises when it is necessary to present technical material of a highly specialized nature . Reference to such type of
helps as mentioned above can be of great aid to support the
argument of the theocratic minister .
2 Much has been said in recent times about archaeology .
Jehovah's witnesses are interested in archaeology only to the
extent that it corroborates or supplements the Bible record .
The following will demonstrate how such type of Bible help
may give valuable information toward supplementing the
Bible itself .
3 The book of Genesis in its early chapters names a people
whose influence and empire in early civilizations have become
known through the study of archaeology in recent times .
Genesis 15 :18 mentions the covenant made with Abraham,
promising his seed "this land, from the river of Egypt unto
the great river, the river Euphrates," which land was inhabited by the Kenites, Amorites, Girgashites, Jebusites and
others including the Hittites, descendants of Heth . (Gen .
10 :15, NW) Genesis 23 :1-20 is devoted to Abraham's purchase
of the cave situated in front of Hebron to bury his beloved
wife Sarah, and this purchase he makes from the sons of Heth,
Hittites . Later, David married a Jewess, Bath-sheba, Solomon's mother . She had no Hittite blood in her, but Uriah,
her former husband, was a Hittite . (2 Sam . 11 :3 ; 12 :24 ; 23 :39 ;
1 Chron . 3 :5) The Bible states that the Hittites had kings
and that they were ranked as a mighty and terrible power
or threat to other nations . (2 Chron . 1 :17 ; 2 Ki . 7 :6, 7) Thus
we see there are numerous references in the Bible to such
a people as the Hittites .
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OUR
MINISTRY
Study 44
HOUSE-TO-HOUSE MINISTRY
1 "The joy of Jehovah is your strength ." When we go in the
service we must have that joy that comes from knowing
why we are doing this service . Having this joy, we realize
that we are representing the highest One in the universe,
the theocratic, universal Sovereign, Jehovah . We are happy,
with a happy countenance, reflecting the countenance of our
God, who is a happy God .-Neh. 8 :10, AS ; 1 Tim . 1 :11, NW .
2 When you start in the service are you rightly representing
the new world? Consider your appearance . Are you clean,
careful and neat in dress as if you had a very important
appointment with a prominent businessman or official? You
should be . This does not mean that you should have fine or
expensive clothes, but it does mean that you should be very
clean, in person and clothing, clothes pressed, mended if
necessary, and well kept . You should not be dressed so that
your dress in itself will attract attention . If you have any
extreme fads or peculiarities, do away with these . People
look on these as evidences of fanaticism . The thing that
should attract attention and that is truly outstanding and
different is the message of the Kingdom we bring. We want
to attract and focus all attention on it . So first, check the
appearance of yourself, your book bag and literature . Have
everything fresh and clean, well arranged, handy for yourself
and inviting to the person to whom you speak . If the person
finds fault, let it be as with Daniel, of whom it was said, "We
shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we
find it against him concerning the law of his God ."-Dan . 6 :5 .
s We should pray before we start our service and sometimes
silently pray as we walk along . Jehovah's spirit is necessary
and his ministering angels are watching interestedly, as they
take part in the gathering work . Having this good start, we
shall have confidence and courage . What should be our attitude as we approach the people of our territory? It should
be a positive attitude . Jesus gave this counsel : "Wherever
you enter into a house say first : `May this house have peace .' "
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(Luke 10 :5, NW) You are a peaceful person, bringing a message of peace, of good. It will do untold good to the person
who receives you with peace . So you approach the house with
love and consideration for the persons inside, not judging
them, but assuming that they are at heart sheeplike ones
of good will .
4 But wait! Have you something to say? The Bible says :
"The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that
are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him
that is weary ." (Isa . 50 :4, AS) You have been given the learning through a study of God's Word and training through the
meetings of his people . Are you going to use this learning to
help others? If so, you must prepare in advance .-Eccl . 12 :9,
10.
5 How will you prepare? By memorizing what you are going to say? No, for your presentation must be flexible and
adaptable to circumstances that arise . One excellent way is,
first, choose a fixed point, an idea or a theme to build your
conversation around . This can be done by referring to the
subjects in "Make Sure of All Things" . You can take the subjects "New World Living," "Earth and Its Destiny," "Creation," "Kingdom," "Life" and many others . Go over the subheadings in these subjects, getting a few main points that you
want to make in developing that subject . For flexibility and
freedom it is better not to have too rigid an outline . So get
these fixed points in mind that you want to make, with a
scripture or two to read . You might even practice with
another publisher, so that you can give a coherent threeto eight-minute witness that is clear, to the point and conversational, an efficient Kingdom presentation at the home .
s Now you approach the first door . How can a person introduce himself? He may state variously that he is a minister, a representative of the Watch Tower Society, one of
Jehovah's witnesses, doing an educational work, calling to
encourage Bible study in the home, bringing good news,
carrying out a public service, working with an international
Bible research group, bringing the people the good results
of this research, working in conjunction with a world-wide
society of ministers, working together with more than a halfmillion ministers, representing a New World Bible society .
In presenting the New World Translation one may say that
he represents a Bible translation committee . During assemblies one may style himself a visiting delegate to the convention being held .
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Study 45
PRESENTATIONS
1 In our previous lesson, counsel as to preparation and introduction was given . Let us suppose you have gone this far
in a presentation and have brought the literature to the
householder's attention . How will you proceed?
2 Having given your three- to eight-minute sermon, then
introduce the literature, showing the person how the publications go into detail on the subject you talked about . Open
the book or magazine to certain striking statements in its
pages, to illustrations in the book or to chapter headings . Hold
it so that it can be easily read by the person . Prove that the
publication actually contains the answers to the questions
that you have aroused . And by all means offer the literature
and get him to take it in his hands if he is willing . Let him
read for himself, let him have the feel of it . People like to
make their own decisions . You merely help them . He may
see something in the publication that appeals to him, something you may have passed over entirely .
3 Do not overdo the presentation . Showing too many features of the literature at one time will wear out the householder . It will make it appear too heavy and complicated, requiring too much study . This will happen if you show the table
of contents, index, illustrations, statements in the paragraphs,
and all its other features in one presentation . Rather, try
to find a point of interest and stress this. The use of the Bible
is good, to show the householder that the literature and the
Bible work together hand in hand and that in studying the
literature one is really studying and understanding the Bible
with its aid .
4 Always welcome anything that the householder says . Always encourage him to talk and express his views . Do not
shrink away from an objection, but welcome it . It gives you
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It will succeed where other means fail . We must have sincerity. (2 Cor. 2 :17) We must be honest and accurate in our
statements . Give a straightforward answer to their questions .
Answer as directly as possible, then give the explanation, but
do it in a tactful, not a blunt, rude, way . Do not go in a long,
roundabout way to give an explanation, but satisfy the person's mind and give him the Bible proof . That is why we are
there, as ministers . And if we can turn to the literature and
show him that it will give him a fuller answer to the question, then he will desire to have it to read for himself .
9 We must have kindness . (Col . 3 :12) Never be unkind .
Never in any case should we try to make the last remark or
be able to overcome or "get back" at him with a "smart"
remark . No, we must always show the kindness Jesus showed .
He said : `If the person does not want your peace, let your
peace return to you, and go on your way .' He did not say that
we should wrangle, or try to force the message upon him,
or threaten him with destruction at Armageddon . Later on he
may become interested .
10 Then, variety . (Eccl . 12 :10 ; Matt . 13 :52) A stereotyped,
cut-and-dried presentation is unimpressive . Our presentation
has to be alive, fresh, if it is to give the people something
to think about . If all of Jehovah's witnesses employ variety,
the people at the homes will gradually, by hearing different
truths from God's Word, be able to piece together the pattern
of truth . It will prove to them that we are real ministers,
real educators.
"As to the conclusion . How soon should it come? You
should not be lengthy in your witness, but should present the
literature in a clear-cut manner, making one or two fixed
points, then lay the matter before them for their decision .
If you come to a conclusion rather early, stating again the
contribution amount, you give the person a chance to make a
decision . If he seems inclined to be negative, then another fact
or two can be presented and another conclusion made . But
if you go on and on instead, you wear out the householder .
Conclude with a real appeal . Show how the person can share
in this knowledge, how it will help him, how he and his
family need it, how it will serve as a protection . Show
that there will never be a better time than now, or that
there will never be more time to read than now . With eyes
sincerely directed at the householder, be sure that your conclusion is positive, forceful and strong . Do not conclude the
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with another person acting as householder, how to make a good conclusion and what to do when the person takes literature . (c) Demonstrate what should be done when the person refuses the literature,
Study 46
WITNESSING WITH MAGAZINES
1 The Watchtower and Awake! magazines are two of the
most effective instruments that Jehovah's witnesses have in
their ministry . The advantage of offering The Watchtower
and Awake! to people is that these magazines are always
fresh, always alive, always up to the events of the day . There
is always a new message in them, a new viewpoint or new
light upon God's Word that is fresh and vital .
2 The experiences of God's people and the latest developments God is bringing about in advancing his New World
society are set forth in The Watchtower . Not only does it
present the product of the research done by the "faithful
and discreet slave" in the Scriptures, as it hands out the
food in its proper season to the members of the household
of faith, but also the latest researches done by scientists,
archaeologists and scholars of the world as they make new
discoveries in the Bible lands, bringing new manuscripts and
better understanding of the ancient Bible languages to light .
3 Through the pages of Awake! one is kept informed on the
world . He realizes the wide scope of activity going on . He
sees the wonderful and varied things God has put in the earth
for our pleasure, study and mental advancement . It makes the
mind active and young . Awake! serves the purpose toward
people of good will of attracting their attention to the things
taking place, of causing them to see the contrast between
this old world and the right principles of God's Word . It
enables them to begin to sigh and cry for the disgusting
things committed in Christendom and to start looking for
something better. (Ezek . 9 :4) It quickens their desire to get
something from God's Word . It paves the way for them to
read other Watch Tower publications, particularly the Watchtower magazine .
4 So when we go witnessing with magazines we must keep
these things in mind and remember that we are bringing all
this to the people . We must be reminded of the contrast between old-world magazines and The Watchtower and Awake!
While old-world magazines may show how the people live,
yet they do not show how the people can get everlasting life.
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the magazine you left last week, call to his attention the importance of reading it or the article in the new issue that
you have. On the back-call you may start a study in The
Watchtower or Awake! or place a book such as "Let God
Be True", so that the fundamental doctrines can be studied .
Every publisher should enjoy this weekly campaign .
7 Another feature of magazine work is that of placing subscriptions . When you do this be prepared to talk three to
eight minutes, or longer if necessary . The placing of subscriptions is a joyous work, and the publisher should go into
this with a positive attitude, not feeling that it is something
greater than he can place . He should feel that with the subscription offer he is able to give a fresh, different witness
each time because of the change in articles in each new issue
of the magazines .
8 In presenting The Watchtower or Awake! during or at
the end of a three- to eight-minute sermon it is usually better
to say something general about the magazine first . Show
the purpose of the magazine and its general scope and coverage, then go into some of the specific points discussed therein. Select articles that will be of interest to the person to
whom you are talking. To a man the articles on politics,
commerce, world events, science and nature are of interest .
To a woman subjects dealing with housekeeping, clothing,
women's activities and natural history . In Awake! there are
many subjects that school children are interested in-current
events, nature items, articles from foreign lands giving local
color, and scientific subjects-all helpful in schoolwork and
in reports they may have to make . In The Watchtower there
are many brief, very pointed articles . These are very practical
and easily grasped by the householder . Select these, knowing
their contents before starting in the service .
9 Point up The Watchtower as a product of Bible study and
research, a magazine that enables us to find a satisfactory
and reliable solution for the everyday problems of life, a magazine that enables us to know how to live today and how
to be pleasing to God and how to educate and train the entire
family best toward getting life . Sometimes it is helpful in
placing subscriptions to take along several issues . A display
of the different colors is attractive . Briefly show what interesting subjects have been covered in just those few issues .
Or, if you have several copies in different languages, a display of these is quite appealing . This gives the person a grasp
of the world-wide circulation of the magazine, its scope . It has
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a message designed not for just one small group or nationality, but for the whole world . The circulation figures found
on the inside front cover show that it is being read by
millions . It is worthy of their consideration and should be
coming regularly into their home . It is important to present
the subscription without hesitation, enthusiastically . Do not be
timid and drop to a single copy unless the householder, after
consideration, gives a definite no .
10 As in the house-to-house work, for store-to-store work
one should be dressed in a businesslike way and have a neat
brief case. Usually the magazine bag is not used for this .
He should approach the store or office manager, give him
a very brief witness and state the contribution rate . If permitted by the manager, the witness may present the magazine
to clerks who are not busy . But be brief, do not talk to anyone long. Remember, thirty seconds to one minute . You want
to come back to that store, and should show consideration
for the fact that the employees are paid for their time . Therefore only an offer of the magazine is necessary . Any interest
can be taken care of by arranging to call at their homes .
Usually present The Watchtower and Awake! together, covering the stores each time, particularly where good will is manifested .
11 Street work with magazines, The Watchtower or Awake!
is also effective and provides good advertising for the Kingdom, if it is done properly . Do not stand like a signpost merely holding up the magazine, but walk about the street, offering the magazine to those standing at the curb and to persons
in parked cars, also to those walking down the street . Smile,
look directly at the person and ask, "Have you read the
latest copy of The Watchtower?" or, "While you're waiting,
I have something of unusual interest for you ." Other introductions may be used ; then have something that you can
say very quickly about the magazine . If refused, go on to
another person . Avoid arguments and long conversations ; be
especially careful and tactful, kind and courteous . Ignore
opposers and try to avoid them by walking a few steps away.
Keep on with your work . If trouble arises, rather than try to
handle it yourself, seek the assistance of a police officer .
12 Be a magazine-conscious publisher . Study them yourself ;
distribute them as a sweet fragrance of truth in your territory .
These magazines should have the greatest circulation of any
magazine in the world . Have your share in making both The
Watchtower and Awake! household words .
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REvIEw : 1, 2 . Why is The Watchtower appropriate to offer to the people? 3. What does Awake! do for the good-will reader? 4 . Compare The
Watchtower and Awake! with other magazines . 5 . How may Magazine
Day be conducted? 6 . How will the publisher work his territory with
magazines? 7 . How should we feel about presenting the subscription
offer? 8, 9 . How may we present the subscription offer effectively?
10. How should store-to-store magazine work be done? 11, 12 . What is
the most effective manner of doing street magazine work?
PROBLEMS : (a) Show points of the current Watchtower and Awake!
and read excerpts that would be appealing to men or to women householders . (b) Give a brief presentation of the magazines suitable for
house-to-house magazine work .
Study 47
OTHER WITNESSING
1 The anointed and their good-will companions are sending up praise and rendering Jehovah sacred service in his
temple day and night, continually . This means that our
service to him is not governed by time, but is a twenty-fourhour service . The apostle Peter says we must be always
ready to make a defense of the truth and to help others to
learn. This requires that we be constantly on the alert for
opportunities to give persons a witness to the Kingdom under
all circumstances, and that we should cultivate this ability .
-1 Pet . 3 :15 .
2 The time may possibly come, as it is even now in some
countries, when no literature can be used by Jehovah's witnesses, aside from the Bible itself . Therefore, now is the time
that we should learn well to witness to everyone we meet,
in traveling, in our place of secular work, in our homes, at
homes of relatives and friends, and in every possible place .
Then, if such time does come, we shall be well equipped to
go ahead and the Kingdom message will continue to expand
and prosper.
As in other forms of witnessing this kind of preaching
requires preparation . Jehovah's organization has provided
equipment that enables us to do this very conveniently. The
tracts are a most handy aid . They are attractive ; they cover
subjects that are topics of daily conversation . They are to
the point, easy for a person to read and understand . They
are convenient . Carry them in some kind of folder so that
they do not become wrinkled . "Make Sure of All Things" is
designed especially for this kind of witnessing and may be
carried at all times . The advantage of "Make Sure of All
Things" is that it is a listing of scriptures . This appeals more
to some persons than literature that explains the Scriptures .
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With its index and its seventy subjects one can get ideas as
to ways of bringing up conversations and directing them to
these subjects, thus quickening interest in the Bible and other
literature .
4 If one has a small pocket Bible it is very useful . Oftentimes you can be reading the Bible or "Make Sure of All
Things" and can comment on something being read, readily
starting a conversation . Another of the most effective publications of the Watch Tower Society for such work is the booklet
Basis for Belief in a New World. Its logical, scientific, modernday approach to the subject is very effective . It appeals particularly to persons who have become disgusted with the false
religions of Christendom and those who have begun to doubt
the Bible's authenticity because of false teachings . It contains
a reasonable, powerful argument for hope in a righteous new
world, which will be quickly grasped by all right-minded
persons .
5 Places that are convenient for this type of witnessing
are streetcars and buses going to and from work, traveling
to conventions and assemblies either by train or by car, when
stopping at filling stations, restaurants, hotels and tourist
homes on the way. One can often begin a witness to his fellow
passenger by talking about his occupation as a minister or
about the assembly . One excellent time for witnessing by
those engaged in secular work is at lunch time. In this case
"Make Sure of All Things" and the New World Translation
are especially good, because one can then profitably improve
himself and, while reading, can make remarks and call the
attention of his fellow workmen to some of the good things
therein stated . Back-calls can be arranged for those manifesting interest.
6 Housewives have many opportunities of witnessing to
salesmen, deliverymen and others calling at their homes . For
this, it is good to have near each door a small supply of
literature, particularly the current offer, some subscription
blanks, tracts, handbills and, necessarily, Bibles and "Make
Sure of All Things" . Then when one calls it is quite convenient
to step over to the literature table and begin demonstrating
it . Often an attractive display of literature will elicit comments and questions from callers, giving an opening for a
witness . Many subscriptions have been obtained and much
literature has been placed in this way, because the first step
in witnessing is here automatically taken care of, that is, a
friendly contact exists to start with . It is easy to go into a
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Study 48
"TACTFUL TOWARD ALL"
1 Tactfulness is a requisite of the theocratic minister . Paul
says : "But a slave of the Lord does not need to fight, but
needs to be tactful toward all ." (2 Tim . 2 :24, NW) All of
Jehovah's witnesses must be tactful . Jesus gave good counsel
on tactfulness . He said : "Prove yourselves cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves ." (Matt . 10 :16, NW) Tactfulness is to be used as an instrument to push forward the
theocratic work of preaching . It must be used to glorify Jehovah's name and to help others to do so . Therefore, it does
not mean compromise or deceit . Tactfulness may be defined
as : a sensitive mental perception ; or an acute, keen discernment of the best course of action to take under given conditions ; or the peculiar ability to deal with others without
giving offense . Tact is knowing what to say, how to say it
and when to say it .
2 From these definitions and Biblical descriptions of tact
we can see that it has primarily a positive connotation . That
is, it means more than merely avoiding offense . Tactfulness
means to put your information across to the person, to handle
the matter in such a way that the person being spoken to is
aided and that the theocratic objective is reached . We can
go too far in the matter of tact and become overtactful,
servile, which would be wrong, the same as being untactful . Either would not be an honor to Jehovah's name .
3 Now as to tactful effectiveness in a general way : in
preaching the good news we shall succeed if we appeal to
people's love of righteousness, to their reason and to their
desire for better things rather than to fear or rather than to
condemn them . We should talk of things that are for their
benefit, because people are interested, and properly so, in
their own welfare and in those whom they love . We can also
appeal to the things people generally accept as right, to principles upon which we can lay a foundation of truth and build
up our presentation of the Kingdom message .
4 Important aspects of tactfulness are brevity, kindness
and practicality . Our words should be few . Jesus followed
the Bible admonition to let his words be few when before
the wicked . (Ps . 39 :1 ; Luke 20 :19-26) Do not attempt merely to "get the best" of a person in an argument, but argue
in a way that will be edifying and upbuilding for him . If
we are tactful we shall also be practical . Paul's exercise of
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him so that they think they must give him things . Instead
he must turn them to Jehovah and Christ as the great
Teachers and Givers, and show that their giving must be
their service to God, "the fruit of lips which make public
declaration to his name ."-Heb . 13 :15, NW .
9 The use of tact is equally important in relations with our
brothers in the truth . While they are more mature than others
and have a better understanding, yet we would be wrong
in treating them untactfully because we feel that they should
understand or "they should know better ." Remember, they
are our brothers and we deal with them in love, as Paul says :
"Really, then, as long as we have time favorable for it, let
us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those
related to us in the faith ." (Gal . 6 :10, NW) Because they are
brothers, we should not take advantage of them by invading
their personal rights or privacy or their ownership of property . To the contrary, the brotherly relationship causes us
to maintain an even higher regard and respect for them .
10
Jehovah's theocratic ministers are always courteous and
polite in their dealing with all persons, whether of the public
or government officials and officers of the law . As on other
occasions they must weigh their words, not to leave the impression that they are trying to hide something, but that
they are certain of the facts and have the clear evidence . At
all times be honest, frank, clear and helpful . Never be
abashed in the presence of mere man, yet always be kind .
To dedicated servants of Jehovah the use of theocratic tactfulness bears much fruit, whether they are dealing with
their own brothers or with the public to whom they are
preaching . Never do they blurt out all they know ; they tell
what is necessary and save the rest for another occasion.
Jesus said, even to his disciples : "I have many things yet
to say to you, but you are not able to bear them at present ."
-John 16 :12, NW .
REVIEW : 1, 2 . Define and describe tactfulness . 3 . What general principles, if followed, will make our preaching tactfully effective? 4 . Name
some important aspects of tactfulness . 5. What is the difference between
frankness and bluntness? 6 . How will the tactful person analyze what
he has to say? 7 . How shall we regard customs and habits of those to
whom we are witnessing? 8 . Tactfulness will enable us to avoid what
selfish action? 9 . How does tactfulness apply in our relations with our
brothers? 10 . In dealing with officials how will tactfulness be employed?
PROBLEM : Show how one might deal tactfully with situations : such as
(a) The home where we are witnessing has many images, or a Christmas
tree, etc ., and questions arise concerning them . (b) A person refuses to
accept the message, but asks you to pray with him, or some other similar
situation .
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Study 49
APPROACHING PERSONS OF VARIED FAITHS
1 Jehovah's witnesses as ministers are deeply interested in
the people in their territory . The sheeplike ones in it are their
congregation . Each minister having a territory should study
the people in his territory and try to find out their viewpoint
of things, discerning what religion many of them have . He
should try to find out the outstanding beliefs of these people
and the way they view the Bible, and how they look upon
God and his purposes toward mankind and their relationship
to him . As we go from house to house we cannot expect most
persons to accept immediately what we say, because of the
things that they have been taught and the way they look at
matters . So we must make every effort to give a witness
to them and not be too easily turned away at the door without having given them opportunity to know why we called
and to hear something about the message we bring .
2 In talking with the people we must demonstrate our interest in them by getting their mind on matters, showing
that we respect their right to their viewpoint . By our trying
to answer their doubts and their problems, they will see that
we are really trying to help them . Oftentimes to ask their
opinion on some point, or to present to them a problem that
starts them to thinking, helps those who are bound up in a
false religion or who are indifferent to the message of the
Kingdom .
3 We may approach a person who does not specify that he
belongs to any particular faith, but merely states, "I have my
church." The best way to deal with such person is to get
him to talking, to show interest in his church and what he
thinks and get him to express a few things that he believes .
One might ask what the person thinks of the movement
toward union of all religions, then show the danger here in
compromising beliefs and principles for the sake of mere
unity .
4 Ephesians 4 :4 shows there is only one body and one true
faith . At 2 Corinthians 13 :5 the apostle's admonition is to
keep testing whether we are in the faith . From there you
can go on to show the need of more study of the Bible on
the part of each Christian and the understanding of the
present-day events fulfilling prophecy, such as the great longrange prophecy of Jesus at Matthew 24 . With this type of
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Study 50
ARGUMENTATION
1 The apostle Paul wrote the following counsel to Timothy :
"Further, turn down foolish and speculative questionings,
knowing they produce fights . But a slave of the Lord does not
need to fight." (2 Tim. 2 :23, 24, NW) Was Paul here advising
Timothy not to argue the things concerning the Kingdom, that
most controversial subject? No ; for it is written of Paul
himself that while he was in Athens "his spirit within him
came to be irritated at beholding that the city was full of
idols . Consequently he began to reason in the synagogue
with the Jews and the other people who worshiped God and
every day in the market-place with those who happened to
be on hand ." (Acts 17 :16, 17, NW) Paul was an imitator of
Christ Jesus, and Christ was the greatest exponent of argumentation ever on this earth . So effective were his arguments and refutations that his enemies, the scribes and Pharisees, feared to dispute with him on the Scriptures . Throughout
the Bible are found the finest examples of argumentation,
voiced by the servants of Almighty God . They were God's
mouthpieces, moved to speak by the spirit of Jehovah . Hence
it may be said that Jehovah God was the Author of such
flawless argument .
2 Most of the argumentation used by Jehovah's witnesses
is at the homes of the people in the house-to-house work or
in return visits and in the course of home Bible studies . Goodwill persons are not opposers of the truth, but they sometimes present arguments to substantiate beliefs they have
been taught . Again, sometimes one opposed to the Kingdom
message is on hand to prevent good-will persons from hearing. In either case we want to apply the principles of good
argumentation to enable the honest hearer to see the truth .
3 Successful argument is based on three main principles :
First, get a plain, clear statement of the proposition, both
sides agreeing as to what the argument is about. In this
way you can come to grips with one another and not beat
the air. If the argument is on the "soul," the broad subject
"soul" itself would not be a proposition . Rather, the proposition might be, The soul is immortal . Our opponent would take
the affirmative side and we the negative . Stick to this proposition .
4 Second, get definitions of terms clear . Be sure each understands just what the other means by his use of a term or
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expression . For example, someone may say, "You don't believe in the doctrine of the trinity." Now, the trinity doctrine
means that there are three persons in one God : God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, all coequal
and coeternal. Similarly, the terms "world's end," "hell,"
"evolution" and "species" have various meanings attached
to them and present entirely different pictures to the minds
of different people . There are almost as many brands of
evolution as there are believers in it . Hence, in an argument
on "evolution" the all-important need of each side is defining
its understanding of the term .
5 Third is analysis . Every proposition to be argued has
special issues that support it . If the affirmative side cannot
prove all these issues, then the argument to support the
proposition fails . Analyze, get at the root of the matter . Often
a proposition hangs on one or two major issues . Select the
issues you know are important and do not waste time by
being led off into every issue the opponent brings up . As an
illustration, someone may say, "Jehovah's witnesses should
salute the flag." The issues would be : Is it required by God?
or, Does it violate his law? and, Is it proper and necessary
from the viewpoint of patriotism? To Jehovah's witnesses
the main issue, in fact, the whole question, is that of obedience to God's law . So one would concentrate most of his
argument on that issue, while disproving the other briefly .
Some might say, "Jehovah's witnesses ought to get a license
to preach ." The issues would be : Should peddlers be required
to get a license? and, Are Jehovah's witnesses peddlers? Obviously, our argument would be concentrated on the second
issue . (2 Cor . 2 :17) So analyze carefully, and rigorously exclude all irrelevant or unnecessary issues, or, if brought up
by your opponent, show how they do not apply to the proposition being argued .
6 To settle an argument successfully the burden of proof
should be upon the one who makes the assertion that a thing
is true. One who asserts that the trinity doctrine is true
should prove it. The negative side has merely to show that
his "proofs" do not stand . If one says, "Jehovah's witnesses
are seditious," or "their teachings are dangerous," he must
cite specific cases and examples to prove such is true . Oftentimes opposers of Jehovah's witnesses, when called upon for
specific proofs, see the weakness of their position and abandon
the field of battle.
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Study 51
REFUTATION
1 False religious doctrines cause the people to stumble in
accepting Kingdom truths. These stumbling stones must be
cleared out of the way . One must 'prepare the way' for argument advocating the theocracy by 'gathering out the stones
of stumbling' placed in people's minds. By refutation "gather
out the stones." It must be done tactfully ; otherwise the
preacher of good news closes the mind of his listener and
creates prejudice and thereafter the most persuasive of arguments falls on deaf ears . All refutation should be presented
in kindness. Comfort the mourning people, and do not antagonize them .
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REviEw : 1 . Why does the minister of the good news need refutation?
2 . What is the requisite for refutation? 3 . How can one find openings for
refutation? 4 . What questions might one ask to test his opponent's
argument? 5. How would one test testimonial evidence? 6 . How would
one test circumstantial evidence? 7 . A cause-effect argument would be
tested by what questions? 8 . What is necessary to make our argument
effective toward our hearers? 9 . At what point in a talk would refutation
be placed?
PROBLEM : Refute the contention : "If there's a heaven, there's got to
be a hell," where the opponent's argument is that everything has its
opposite, so concluding there is a hell of torment .
Study 52
ANSWERING OBJECTIONS
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this : "As long as I live up to what I believe, I'll get to heaven ." The issue here is, Is sincerity enough? A lesser issue is :
Is heaven the only reward God gives? The example of the
rich young man who came to Jesus is here appropriate. (Matt .
19 :16-24) Many sincere people are pagans, yet according to
Christian faith this sincerity in their pagan belief will not
save them . All roads do not lead to the same place . It is
advisable to use a road map. The Bible, and only true knowledge of it, is a safe, sure guide . A different attack would be
on the basis of the second issue mentioned . Such persons
probably do not understand Jehovah's purposes toward the
earth. The Lord's prayer (Matt . 6 :9-13) here provides a strong
argument. Show the earthly blessings God has promised,
opening up an entirely new avenue of thought, that of living on the earth in a blessed, happy state . This may result
in their interest and enlightenment .
10 In the third kind of objection, where the householder
is sincere and really desires the answer to the question he
poses, it is worth our while to go into the matter, thoroughly
answering his question from the Scriptures . The Bible and
"Make Sure of All Things" will aid us, and we may be able
to start an informal study of the subject at that first call .
In any case, Jehovah's witnesses are glad to answer without
irritation or exasperation, using all means to get the cooling
waters of truth to those who thirst in this day of spiritual
famine.-1 Pet . 3 :15 ; Amos 8 :11 .
REviEw : 1 . Into what classes can most objections Jehovah's witnesses
meet be divided? 2. How may the evasive answer be handled? 3 . In what
ways can you meet the answer, "I'm busy"? 4 . What can be said to
one who is "too busy to read"? 5 . Answer the response, "I have my
Bible ." 6 . Overcome the objection, "I have all kinds of books ." 7. Answer, "We have our own church literature ." 8 . How would you deal
with, "I don't have any money"? 9 . If an objection to destroy your
presentation is met, such as, "If I do what I think is right, I'll get to
heaven," how will you overcome it? 10 . How will one answer the sincere, inquiring objector?
(a) Answer some commonly met evasive answer, such as,
PROBLEMS :
"I wouldn't be interested today ." (b) Overcome the objection : "You
are against the government ."
Study 53
RETURN VISITS
1 The homes of the people are the best places to teach them .
Jesus Christ, the greatest teacher ever on earth, stands as
proof of, this statement . In the account of his ministry in the
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four Gospels the words "house" and "home" are used more
than 110 times, and in nearly all these instances it is in connection with Jesus' teaching there . Jesus not only made the
initial call ; he called back time and again to teach . The
apostles saw their weighty responsibility in this regard . Thus
we find Paul saying to Barnabas : "Above all things, let us
return and visit the brothers in every one of the cities in
which we have published the word of Jehovah to see how
they are."-Acts 15 :36, NW.
2 In their placing of literature Jehovah's witnesses are not
book salesmen. They do not, after placing the literature, leave
the people to shift for themselves without regard to whether
they ever read the literature or get the understanding thereof .
They are not like the hireling clergy of Christendom, interested only in what they can get out of the people, but
they are truly, sincerely interested in the welfare of Jehovah's sheep .-2 Cor . 2 :17 .
3 In making a call back, we have a goal, a purpose . That is,
to start a home Bible study eventually . The back-call itself
is to improve the interest they already have, or to rekindle
interest and clear out obstacles that stand in the way of
their studying . To aid himself to make the return visit the
efficient minister keeps a neat, orderly House-to-House Record
containing the names of those who are interested and some
information as to literature left and conversations had on
the original call . Do not wait too long . On your first call you
have aroused enthusiasm enough that the person acted to take
literature or express some interest. The longer you wait the
more that enthusiasm will cool off and the more interference
will have arisen to hinder the person of good will . So call
soon, preferably within one week . Keep that spark of interest
burning .
4 To prepare openings for return visits, the first call may
sometimes be concluded with a remark of this nature : "You
are now entitled to a free demonstration of how to use this
book ." Or, "You are entitled to one hour's free instruction
during this month," or, "I will be in this area again next
week and would like to talk with you some more then ." Try
to make a definite appointment as to the day to call again .
Then you are expected by the householder and he will read
the literature, knowing you are going to talk to him about
it . Having this appointment, keep your word as a Christian
minister. If you do not get an appointment, make it businesslike when you do return . Do not say, "I was in this neighbor-
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hood and just thought I'd drop by ." Do not appear haphazard,
but let it be seen that this is your business and that you made
a special effort to call. Each publisher should make his own
return visits. If he desires he may take another publisher
along . The watchword for successful back-calls is, Prepare!
Have something special to say to the householder and say it
enthusiastically . You will find using ten- to fifteen-minute sermons most practical and effective .
s One can open a back-call with a remark such as : "You
are one of 500,000 households on whom a special call is being
made this week ." (From 1955 Yearbook back-call total)
Based on information in your House-to-House Record, direct
the attention to certain subjects connected with your previous
conversation . Get the householder's reaction . Do not merely
ask, "Do you have any questions?" but try to focus the attention on some vital, interesting subject you have prepared .
Get the book the householder has and point to it and let him
see what is in the literature . If the subject does not seem
to be one of interest to him, switch to another . If your Houseto-House Record does not indicate any special subject of conversation, you can get ideas to open the conversation by
looking at the front-page topics in the day's newspaper and
prepare a ten- to fifteen-minute talk . Or take a subject in
the literature or "Make Sure of All Things" . Know what you
are going to say . You may even be able to start a Bible study
on your first back-call . Be alert!
6 Teaching or helping their children is always a timely
subject to parents . Another good theme for opening is the
story of the Ethiopian eunuch. Turn to Acts, chapter 8, and
relate how the eunuch, although reading the Scriptures,
needed someone to help and instruct him . Apply it to the
householder .
7 If you do not get an invitation into the home, have your
presentation epitomized, but if the weather is good and conditions favorable give your whole talk . Do not go away without at least giving some witness . Give the person something
to think about . He will see it is not a light matter . If you
are too easily turned away, it makes it easier to dismiss you
without consideration the next time .
s On a successful call, after having aroused further interest
by turning to certain subjects in the book, or having cleared
out obstacles by a Bible discussion, tell the person you want
him to see in the publication he has what an abundance of
good things God has for his people . Describe how greatly
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Study 54
HOME BIBLE STUDIES
1 Jesus gave instruction on the home Bible study work when
he repeated to Peter three times, "Feed my sheep ." (John
21 :15-17) He described his work in the Revelation to John :
"Look! I am standing at the door and knocking . If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house
and take the evening meal with him and he with me ." (Rev .
3 :20, NW) As to the blessing of Jehovah God upon the small
home Bible study group, Jesus said : "For where there are
two or three met together in my name, there I am in their
midst ."-Matt . 18 :20, NW.
2 Before going to the study prepare well by going thoroughly over the lesson . Give thought to portions that may be hard
to understand, points where they will likely raise questions
and points of special interest and application to their everyday lives . This is one of the great secrets of lively, successful studies . When you arrive at the study, see that all are
supplied with Bibles and books so that each can follow the
Bible references when they are read .
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to the subject studied . Be kind and patient with such digressions . If a question can be answered in a very few words,
do so and say that you will give more information after the
study . But do not let it overshadow and obscure the subject
being studied . If the question is irrelevant, kindly ask the
questioner to wait until the study is over and you will gladly
take up the subject then . You may be able to show that this
question will be answered in the next chapter, or in a few
pages, and ask the group to wait until then and it will be
cleared up .
7 If your students have prepared for their lesson by studying, commend them on their good answers given, their progress and familiarity with the Scriptures, etc . (1 Tim. 4 :15)
This encourages them . When they have difficulty finding
Scripture texts, explain how this study serves the very purpose of training them to be able to find them quickly . If they
do not study between calls, encourage them to study for the
next time . Show how much more they will get out of it . Demonstrate how to study, what to underline, etc . They may not
know how to study .
8 In many instances children are present . If they do not
take part in the study it is good to speak to them when you
enter the home each evening . Ask them to sit in on the study .
After the parents have learned to enjoy the study themselves,
explain that now is the time when the children should learn
about their Creator, in the days of their youth . Then, when
they are older they will not turn away .-Prov . 22 :6 ; Eccl .
12 :1 .
9 When children are sitting in, include them in your remarks ; say some things they will understand . Let them read
Scripture references if they are old enough . Paraphrase your
questions so they will get the sense of them, and occasionally
ask them questions to which the answer is obvious, so they
can get a start in answering . Assign them certain portions
of the book or certain questions to comment on at the next
study . Give them scriptures to prepare for next week as to
application . Assign them, with the parents' approval, the
duty of having the books and Bibles ready when you come
for the next lesson. Oftentimes the zeal of the children in
looking forward to and preparing for the next study will
encourage the parents to continue to study and progress .
Also, it helps the parents, who may be busy with other
things. Make the children feel they are having a part, that
they are wanted and needed at the study . If you have time
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before or after the study, tell them some Bible story, such
as that of creation, the Flood, etc . Recount some of the things
they have already learned so that they will have them fixed
in mind and will appreciate that they are advancing, and
will be able to talk to their friends and schoolmates . Urge the
parents to teach them between calls, taking up the lesson
for the next study. Teach them the books of the Bible . This
is easy and interesting for them and aids them to find texts
quickly.
10 If children disturb the study, invite them to sit and listen .
Talk to the children whenever you get an opportunity . Tell
them that you are studying God's Word and that you had
a prayer at the beginning of the study asking Jehovah God
and Christ Jesus to be there and bless the study . Certainly
they do not want to be disrespectful to Them . In the case of
small children, another publisher might go along and help
to give the parents a chance to concentrate on the study
material . If the parents are far enough advanced in knowledge, a heart-to-heart talk with the parents may help . Another
aid is to take along occasionally one of the well-behaved
children of Jehovah's witnesses . Theocratic children can set
an example and draw children of the household to take an
interest.
"Always be appreciative and show your gratitude for
any kindnesses the people of good will extend to you . Do not
talk too much . Try to encourage them to do most of the talking and express themselves . Tactfully draw out the answers
from them . Review, repetition and association with new points
learned will emphasize them . See that they are progressing
and advancing toward maturity . Watch for this . Your purpose is not merely to hold a study, but to mature these people, enabling them, too, to be ministers of God . To do that
you must be regular every week in making your visit a study,
not a social call . They will see your sincerity . Then direct
them toward Jehovah's organization, a subject that will be
discussed in our next lesson .
12 Whether these persons of good will have previously been
students or not, now they must be students, learners, because
every one who is a disciple of Jesus Christ must come to him
and learn . So, make yourself, as a teacher, one who trains
others to teach .-2 Tim . 2 :2.
REVIEW : 1 . How did Jesus show that the minister must conduct
home Bible studies? 2. What preliminaries and preparation are necessary? 3 . Why is prayer at a study essential? 4 . Describe the study
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procedure. 5 . What is the proper, theocratic deportment for the conductor? 6 . How may questions or digressions on the part of those studying be handled? 7 . What points of helpfulness and encouragement may
the conductor keep in mind? 8 . What should be done if there are children
in the home? 9. In what ways may children be helped to progress in
the study? 10 . If children disturb the study, how can this be overcome?
11, 12 . How can the conductor accomplish his purpose of training the
learners at his study?
(a) Demonstrate how to lead from a return visit into a
PROBLEMS :
home Bible study . (b) Demonstrate what the minister will do where
children are in a home where a Bible study is being held .
Study 55
DIRECTING INTEREST TO THE ORGANIZATION
1 The home Bible studies we hold with the people are not
an objective in themselves . They are to be alive, moving,
progressive, and held for the purpose of directing the sheep to
the great ark of safety, the theocratic system of things, and to
the organization now operating within it . Do not let your
studies become commonplace, stale or stagnant.
2 Consequently, always keep before the minds of your
students that the truths they learn are a blessed provision
of Jehovah through his organization in heaven and on earth .
Keep them appreciative of this fact . A very early start is
the best . From the first, casually but enthusiastically bring in
points here and there about the organization, the local congregation, the work in the field, local and world-wide .
3 What are some of the things you may do, or may have
prepared, to point these persons toward the organization?
Usually they should be things prepared to show them for
five or ten minutes after the study for the evening has closed .
Well, these persons may see the truth from a doctrinal viewpoint . But they also need to see that Jehovah has an organization and that it is Scripturally conducted . They may not
realize this at all . Their eyes need to be opened to the fact
that the King is ruling, the whole world is being judged and
they have a definite place in his purposes . They must appreciate the oneness of mind of all Jehovah's people wherever
they are being gathered, of whatever race and nationality .
Therefore a variety of practical things is here outlined,
things that you can prepare before each study and progressively stress until you have accomplished the purpose you
began with them .
4 Public Meetings. Show them the urgency of the subject
to be discussed . Explain that at all our meetings there is
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Study 56
TRAINING NEW MINISTERS
1 Some uninformed persons charge that Jehovah's witnesses are untrained because they have not attended religious
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Study 57
ORGANIZING NEW CONGREGATIONS
1 The real basis for a congregation of Jehovah's people is
a group of sincere, dedicated servants of Jehovah God who
love Jehovah and his kingdom . Before a congregation can be
organized there must be such people . So, really, at the root
of the congregation organization there is a love of the truth .
Those in it must know the truth and must have a knowledge
of God's purposes through a study of his Word, the Bible .
It is not just a matter of gathering together people to make
up an organization .
2 This does not mean, however, that we can merely take
the truth to the people and to those who love it, and even
to those who dedicate themselves, and that is all we have to
do and we do not have to do any work of organizing. No!
As mature ministers of Jehovah God our duty is to aid these
people to see their privileges of serving God, to help them
and to bring to them the benefits of the organizational arrangement that Jehovah has provided to aid them to continue carrying on their ministry . We know that in union there
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is strength, for the Bible says : "Two are better than one ;
because they have a good reward for their labour . For if they
fall, the one will lift up his fellow : but woe to him that is
alone when he falleth ; for he hath not another to help him
up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat : but how
can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him,
two shall withstand him ; and a threefold cord is not quickly
broken ." (Eccl . 4 :9-12) We know that we must enable these
lovers of truth to see their responsibility and privilege of
working and becoming a part of Jehovah's working organization, and then to become dedicated and baptized . They
cannot work independently of the organization, else they
will cool off and become cold and stiff in the death reserved
for Satan's cold, wicked world .
3 Jehovah has organized his people to praise him in a united
way. When we have these people of good will with whom
we have been studying and whom we have been training in
the field, we should organize them so that by being gathered
into his theocratic system of things they will not stray from
the fold and be lost . When we, as isolated publishers and
especially pioneers, go into a territory, we go there with the
objective of organizing and establishing a congregation . The
first thing we do is to consider our territory . We must divide
it so that it can be properly and thoroughly worked . The
best thing is to divide it into sections that can be worked
thoroughly, instead of scattering our work aimlessly over
the whole area, if it is large . What we want to take first is
a portion of the territory that we can handle and work well .
Then we must work with the people . The secret of organizing
a congregation is getting out and talking to the people and
keeping talking the truth . By talking we shall draw those
who are Jehovah's sheep . We must have a love for them .
4 After a while we begin Bible studies . Without these we
cannot organize a congregation . Now, we may get to have
many Bible studies going, but we must not neglect doing the
house-to-house work at the same time . Never may that lose
its definite place in the minister's schedule . Without houseto-house work constantly we cannot keep ourselves alive to
the truth, we cannot radiate real zeal to persons of good will,
and we cannot get them into the field service when they are
ready. So we schedule our time for house-to-house work,
back-calls and studies . Later, we try to get the persons attending our home Bible studies acquainted with one another .
Perhaps we shall have more interest than we can handle
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CONGREGATION
ACTIVITIES
Study 58
SERVANTS' RELATIONS WITH THE BROTHERS
'For a servant to get a proper understanding of his relationship with the brothers he first has to have an understanding and appreciation of his relationship to Jehovah God .
He must realize that his appointment is from Jehovah in
that Jehovah has laid down in his Word, the Bible, the qualifications and arrangements for servants and overseers in the
congregations, and therefore he can be said to be appointed
from Jehovah through his organization . He needs to appreciate that he is, first of all, a servant of Jehovah and, second,
a servant in the sense that he will serve and minister to his
brothers to the honor of Jehovah's name . Therefore, knowing
these things, he will first of all have confidence, not selfassurance, but confidence in the arrangement that Jehovah
has made and the backing that Jehovah and his organization
will give him in carrying out the principles expressed in the
Bible, which constitutes the basic organization instructions
for Jehovah's organization .
2 His main office, then, is to help those in the congregation
to be ever mindful to acknowledge Jehovah's sovereignty and
magnify him at all times ; also to turn the eyes of all toward
Jehovah's organization as the one arrangement or central
place of worship for all of his people. He cannot do this
without the wisdom that comes from above . This wisdom is
described in God's Word at James 3 :17 (NW) : "But the wisdom from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and good fruits, not making
partial distinctions, not hypocritical ."
3 Let us analyze this wisdom that the servant should reflect
in his dealings with his brothers . First of all, it is chaste
or pure . The first exercise of wisdom is for the advancement
and cleanness of the organization, purity, holding to pure
worship and the Word of God, and to the common faith
that was once for all time delivered to the sanctified ones .
He must be ever on the alert, watching out for the welfare
of the congregation, putting up a hard fight for the faith,
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11
To be a really Christlike, effective servant requires much
love, friendliness and tender affection for the publishers . He
will be close to them, aiding them in service, always looking
to their welfare, always taking an interest in each individual
publisher, always at their call when needed . Taking the initiative to build them up, he will become well acquainted with
the brothers, not being too familiar or interfering with their
personal affairs, or losing respect for them, but fellowshiping
with them at meetings, in the service, in their homes, knowing them well .
12 To do all these things will require extraordinary diligence
in study of God's Word, The Watchtower, Preaching Together
in Unity and the Informant, for without this one will lose
the spirit, zeal and appreciation of one's position . One will
become cool . One will become one-sided, overlooking important duties . But if one applies Jehovah's good counsel, if one
makes this appointed service the first thing in his life, one
can be assured of success .
REVIEw : 1 . To serve his brothers properly, what things must a servant appreciate? 2, 3. In what way must he exercise "chaste" wisdom?
4 . How must he be "peaceable" ? 5 . How is reasonableness exercised by
a wise servant? 6 . In what way does he show himself "ready to obey"?
7, 8. Apply the expression "full of mercy and good fruits, not making
partial distinctions ." 9. How will he be "not hypocritical" in his dealings with the congregation? 10, 11 . In what ways can he work for peace
and unity among the brothers? 12 . What will help the servant maintain
the proper attitude?
PROBLEM : Show how a servant might plan and make his association
with the brothers upbuilding (a) at meetings, (b) in the field, and
(c) in informal association .
Study 69
CONGREGATION OVERSEERS
1
The word "overseer" is translated from the Greek word
episkopos, which literally means "one who visits and inspects ." It applies in Jehovah's organization to one who
watches out for and takes care of the interests of God's
flock. The apostle Paul says, at 1 Timothy 3 :1 (NW) : "If any
man is reaching out for an office of overseer, he is desirous
of a right kind of work ." Every one of God's servants should
train himself and cultivate his talents and abilities and the
fruitage of the spirit so that he will be able to be used, if
necessary, by God's organization in such capacity, for it is
a very honorable work . However, since overseership carries
with it a great deal of responsibility, the rule of Jesus applies :
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"To whom much was given, much will be demanded of him ."
-Luke 12 :48, NW.
2 Paul sets down the qualifications for overseers at 1 Timothy 3 :1-7 and Titus 1 :5-9 . By reading these texts you can see
that the Bible sets a very high standard for overseers . The
overseer, the congregation servant, is held responsible for
the affairs of the congregation and is the one with whom the
Society communicates on congregation matters . He must
therefore shoulder his responsibility and discharge it as to
Jehovah. He cannot be fearful or spineless in the performance
of his duties . He must be courageous . He must realize that
if he carries out Jehovah's will and if he follows the Bible
and the counsel from the "faithful and discreet slave," he
will succeed, Jehovah's spirit working out the things the overseer is unable to do . Therefore he must lean heavily on Jehovah and Christ Jesus and must seek a greater portion of
Jehovah's spirit, frequently calling on Jehovah sincerely and
earnestly in prayer .
3 Maturity is the outstanding quality for an overseer . Maturity includes knowledge, judgment, balance, experience and
growth in the fruitage of the spirit . One thing in connection
with this is that he must be "qualified to teach," which demands that he have a very sound knowledge of the truth,
with as much background as possible . He should know something about the modern-day history of Jehovah's work and
be well grounded on doctrine, so that if any of the congregation need assistance he will be able to help with Scriptural
advice and counsel . A good knowledge of the details of the
duties of all the servants is necessary so that he can train
them and see that their work is done properly . It is good
for the overseer to have previously held several of the servant's positions and proved himself capable .-1 Tim . 3 :13 .
4 Being congregation servant, he is responsible for the
expansion of the Kingdom witness in the territory held by
the congregation . This is a field over which Jehovah has
given him the oversight . He wants to aid the congregation
to get the most out of it, to expand the worship of God to
the very widest limits in this field . He is responsible to apply
fully all the methods of work advised by the Society to the
greatest degree possible .-Rom. 11 :13.
5 Necessarily, the overseer's thoughts are, How can I improve the situation of the congregation? How can I more
fully and effectively put to work the Society's methods and
see that none of the sheep are neglected or lack proper
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feeding from Jehovah's table? He should see that all congregation meetings are properly handled so the congregation
will be edified and strengthened . He is on the watch, informed
as to what is taking place, observing things affecting the service, aiding the congregation to meet them. Alertly he advances
the Kingdom interests by keeping the publishers informed
and alive to these things also, moving forward with the front
lines of Jehovah's organization . He realizes that this is an
educational organization and its objective is to have not
only the publishers but also the people of good will educated
and trained.
6 While applying counsel coming through the Informant
and other publications of the Society, he should not look upon
them as inflexible, trying to force these things on everyone,
but should be kind and helpful, attempting to educate all to
see that the methods advised by the Society are the most
effective, and to bring all to one mind on these matters . He
should not be too concerned about the details of how everyone does his work ; he should see that the preaching gets
done .
7 A temptation that may face the congregation servant is
that of getting the idea that some method or scheme of his
own is a better way . He may put it into effect and it may
for a time seem to get results . But he will find that no real
lasting blessing will come from Jehovah unless he is operating in conformity with Jehovah's theocratic organization .
Such an example was furnished by Moses and Aaron at Meribah when they failed to obey Jehovah's instructions . They
got results in striking the rock, water flowed forth ; but they
brought no blessing, only God's disfavor, on themselves .
(Num. 20 :9-12) Jehovah's counsel must always be put into
effect by the overseer with love, faith, warmth and affection
toward God and his brothers . Thus he will be trying to advance the congregation to maturity and help the sheep,
not just working for the sake of a big report or large numbers .
8 As for the overseer, he must aid the other servants to
become trained, strong, standing on their own feet . They
should not be dependent on him . Neither is he the "manager"
of the congregation, merely telling others what to do . He
is required to do the same work that all publishers do ; in
fact, setting the example .
s The good congregation servant looks upon the congrega .
tion as a family, and he is glad to consult the other servants
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Study 60
ASSISTANT MINISTERIAL SERVANTS
1 The term "minister" or "servant" is translated in the
Christian Scriptures from the Greek word diakonos, which
literally means "through the dust," applying to one who is
dusty from running errands for a master . Hence it means
one who is a servant or minister . (Matt . 22 :13, footnote a)
Jesus Christ is God's chief diakonos, or minister. (Rom . 15 :8)
All those who are dedicated and serving him are likewise
ministers . But the Bible uses this term diakonos also in a
special sense in connection With the visible organization of
Jehovah, to apply to those who are appointed to special positions of service within the organization . It is in such way that
this term is used at 1 Timothy 3 :8-13 . In this case the Scriptures refer to those who are appointed as servants in the
congregation, and particularly to those who are the assistants
to the overseer of the congregation, known as the congregation servant . It is in this connection that the expression
"ministerial servant" will be discussed in this lesson .
2 The assistant servants in a congregation are : assistant
congregation servant, Bible study servant, magazine-territory
servant, literature servant, accounts servant, the Watchtower
study servant, ministry school servant and book study con-
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Study 61
THE "WATCHTOWER" STUDY SERVANT
1 One who conducts a study in the congregation of Jehovah's
people is termed in the Greek Scriptures proistamenos (Rom .
12 :8 ; 1 Thess . 5 :12 ; 1 Tim . 3 :4, 12) or proesto's (1 Tim. 5 :17),
which words literally mean "one who stands before, takes
the lead and conducts ." A weighty responsibility is on one
who occupies a study conductor's position . The Watchtower
study deals with the principal publication of the "faithful
and discreet slave" class . The Watchtower, studied with the
Bible, provides "food in its proper season" for the household
of faith . (Matt . 24 :45-47, NW) This study is therefore a key
meeting of the congregation . The conductor has the duty of
seeing that the congregation gets the most from this food .
2 The Watchtower study servant should therefore take his
privilege seriously and make each study especially instructive
to the congregation and a delight to attend . Much study and
preparation devolve upon him . Being required to be particularly interested in the material contained in The Watchtower,
he must be a student, mature, well-balanced in knowledge of
the truth, having a background of experience in the truth,
theocratic, obedient to Jehovah's instruction and following
the counsel of His organization . His close relation with the
brothers demands that he be tactful, loving and kind .
8 When The Watchtower first arrives the
Watchtower study
servant must make an immediate study of it . He should
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be in the front as concerns a knowledge of the truth . Studying The Watchtower when it arrives gives him . opportunity
to be thinking upon it so that he can apply it in his service
and everyday life-, Then, later when it is studied at the
meeting, he will have given it advance thought and will be
equipped to help the congregation get a deeper understanding
of it . . Prior to the congregation study he should go over The
Watchtower again very thoroughly until he is able to answer
every question without looking at the paragraph . When he is
conducting the study he will be able to focus attention on
those who are commenting and acknowledge their comment .
Instead of continually looking down at the pages of The
Watchtower he can concentrate on the answer being given
and weigh the correctness and clarity of it, so that he will
know whether to entertain further comment or not. He can
thereby intelligently and effectively conduct the study .
4 He has more than a mere routine job of conducting an
orderly meeting . He must be aware of this fact : Each article
in The Watchtower has a specific purpose in the forward
movement of the New World society. Each subject it discusses fits into the general theme of Jehovah's training program as his people approach the new world . It is directed by
Jehovah through his organization . The things necessary are
brought out, some even before we have need of them, so that
we shall be forearmed . (Isa. 42 :9) The alert servant can aid
the congregation to appreciate this and apply it better to
their lives.
5 To contribute to the congregation's progress he alertly
watches for new explanations of certain parts of the Scriptures, new unfolding of truths . He can call this to the attention of the congregation and keep them abreast of the latest
developments of truth. Also he may look for field points,
that is, things that may be used effectively in the field service,
outstanding arguments and refutations of false doctrines or
explanations of prophecies together with their fulfillment in
present-day physical facts, etc . The brothers can note these
and practice telling these truths to the people in the field,
making their presentation of the Kingdom message fresh and
lively .
6 The Watchtower study servant should be interested in all
who attend the meetings and try to acquaint himself with
all, especially the new ones . He should be sure arrangements
have been made to show latecomers to seats and that new
ones have a copy of The Watchtower for the study. As to
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Study 62
MINISTRY SCHOOL SERVANT
1 The school servant has a unique position . He is directly
connected with the training of the servants of Jehovah in
their ministry both in their house-to-house and public-platform witnessing . Even the world is forced to acknowledge
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brothers? 10. How can he encourage others to enroll? 11. Has the
ministry school proved its worth? How?
PROBLEMS : Demonstrate how the school servant will help (a) a weak
person to prepare a talk ; (b) a brother to enroll in the school .
Study 63
THE CONGREGATION BOOK STUDY CONDUCTOR
1 The congregation book study conductor has no insignificant job . He is really the representative of the congregation
in the service center in which he conducts the study . He can
make this a special service privilege of great joy to him if
he so desires . The congregation book study is all evidence of
Jehovah's loving-kindness and tender care for his people . He
is not treating his people as an indistinguishable mass, but
he has arranged through his organization special, individual,
loving care and attention for each by means of the small,
intimate study group.
2 It follows that one of the main duties of the congregation
book study conductor, even more important in some respects
than the conducting of the study, is to cultivate warm, loving
association among those who attend his study . He has a list
from the congregation showing what publishers are assigned
to his study group . He should take a direct, personal interest
in each one of these . What he wants to do is to be able to
help each ; therefore he must make a personal study, understanding each one, to know his problems as to his field service, not his personel and private affairs . To this end he should
associate with these brothers . He should talk to them at the
meetings and visit their homes ; he should always encourage
them to attend the meeting and participate in the service
activities of the study group .
3 He should aid them also to study . Some are backward,
timid, withdrawing themselves from association with others .
These persons need more attention . He will go to these and
try to help them and will arrange it so that others in the
group will associate with them and bring them into their
company . Then they will become healthy, awake publishers
who can be an asset in assisting other new ones .
4 He has much to do with arranging groups for witnessing
at the service center, which is the place where the study is
held . He can see that other mature publishers take the less
experienced, backward and new ones along with them and
train them by being a companion in the house-to-house field
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Study 64
THE CONGREGATION PUBLISHER
1 The congregation publisher plays a unique part in God's
organization . Since the congregation is the one place in the
community where the people of good will can gather together
and serve and worship God with spirit and with truth, the
congregation publisher plays an important part. Generally
the publisher is permanently located in the community . He
is established there and is well known. He has a good reputation in the community for his dealings with others . So there
are certain advantages that the congregation publisher has .
Since he is permanently located, others know him well and
he has a chance to speak with some whom other witnesses
may not contact . He is employed or in business and in his
business dealings he gets opportunity to meet people that
others usually do not . Also he can assist the congregation
and the circuit in arrangements for assemblies and sometimes
has acquaintance with men in the business world through
whom he can obtain assembly needs . Also, he can support
the Kingdom work financially . This has been a big aid in
the work locally as well as in the world-wide missionary field .
2 He may have a family, and the bringing up of his family
in the proper theocratic way and their influence in the community often have a decidedly beneficial effect . Others of good
will who are contemplating the service of God look upon
him as a good example because he is a reliable person who
takes care of his material obligations and also is an active
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this world, but, as Paul says, `godly devotion with selfsufficiency is a means of great gain .' His objective is to serve
Jehovah.-1 Tim . 6 :6, NW ; Heb . 13 :5.
9 In order to obey the apostle's instructions wherein he says,
"In no way are we giving any cause for stumbling, that our
ministry might not be found fault with," he needs to have
personal organization . (2 Cor . 6 :3, NW) The congregation
publisher has many resources that he can organize and use
to the best advantage. Although none of us have much, yet
we do have certain things given us by Jehovah that we can
use to contribute to the praise of his name . These resources
are : time, health, abilities, knowledge and influence . To use
his time wisely he will schedule it . Nothing can be done orderly unless a personal schedule is arranged, which means he
will schedule his time for study, for various features of the
field service and for the other duties he has to discharge .
10 He should take care of his health, not being fanatical
on the matter, but conserving his strength so that he can
use it in the Kingdom's interests . This means he will not dissipate his strength, being careful that he does not spend his
time and that of others excessively in mere seeking of pleasure. Many have natural abilities. They need to organize and
see where these can be used and offer them to the organization. Cultivate these abilities to the highest possible usefulness to the theocracy .
11 He has knowledge, which means that it can be useful
and helpful to those who are immature. He must continually
study to keep that knowledge sharp as a resource on which
he can draw for his ministry . Everyone has influence which
can be used for good or bad . Let the influence you have be
used always for upbuilding and in a way that will bring praise
to Jehovah .
12 Each congregation publisher has dedicated his life to
Jehovah God . If he organizes his resources he should do so
with the single objective of having the Kingdom interests
in view. He should build his life, not around himself and his
own interests, but around his dedication to Jehovah . He can,
by this means, flexibly conform his situation to this objective
of serving Kingdom interests and take care of his obligations
well, still serving God first of all .
13 He is in a clean organization ; so he should see that he is
clean . His course and way of action, also his own person and
his home, should be models of cleanliness and theocratic
order. Perhaps he can volunteer to open his home up for a
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congregation book study . If his home or appearance is unkempt, shabby, dirty, then others will not desire to associate
with the congregation . They judge the whole organization
by what they see its representatives do . Cleanliness is a definite part of New World living and constitutes a good witness to others.
14 The family is the basic theocratic unit in God's arrangement. If the congregation publisher is the head of a family
he should arrange to make it fully theocratic . A good practice
is to have a discussion of the daily text from the Yearbook
at the breakfast table . He will have a peaceable, orderly,
harmonious home, observing the Bible outline for the conduct
of the home in a theocratic way . This would include proper
teaching and training of the children . Lovingly, he will treat
his wife with affection, as his own body . (Eph . 5 :25 ; 1 Pet.
3 :7) If others in the family are not in the truth, the congregation publisher should have consideration for them, just as
if they were . They should be treated with love and tactfulness .
In his social activities he will not seek those of the world
but will seek to be with those who are in the truth, and he will
make these activities clean and his recreations merely an
end to refresh his strength for more work in Jehovah's service. If he has secular obligations he will be faithful in these,
and honest in his dealings with all others, as Paul says :
"Provide the right things in the sight of all men : '-Rom .
12 :17, NW .
15 The Kingdom work, then, is his primary occupation . It
is his career, his life work . If he can arrange his affairs to
become a full-time minister he should look forward to this
and arrange for it at the earliest opportunity . Make your
position as a congregation publisher merely a steppingstone
to full-time ministry . If this is not possible, due to obligations,
be a good congregation publisher .
REVIEw : 1, 2 . The theocratic congregation publisher can have what
influence for good in his community? 3 . What is the relation of all
ministers in Jehovah's New World society? 4 . In co-operating with the
servants, he will do what? 5 . In what way and toward what end should
he be working? 6 . What can be said as to keeping confidence with the
organization? 7 . The most helpful work he can do is what? 8 . How
can he be content? 9-11 . (a) What resources does the congregation publisher have? (b) How can he use to Jehovah's praise each of the following resources : (1) time, (2) health, (3) abilities, (4) knowledge, (5) influence? 12. Around what should he build his life? 13 . How is the
appearance of his person and home important to the New World society?
14. What must he do to discharge his family headship fully? 15 . Toward
what can he always try to arrange his affairs?
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Study 65
WOMEN MINISTERS
1 "The Lord giveth the word : the women that publish the
tidings are a great host ." (Ps . 68 :11, AS) Yes, women may
be ministers of God . In fact, it is recorded that women accompanied and ministered to Jesus during his intensive threeand-a-half-year preaching campaign . A woman, Phoebe, is
spoken of as being a minister of the congregation at Cenchreae . (Mark 15 :40, 41 ; Rom . 16 :1) Women have had a very
large part in the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom ever since the days of Jesus and they have been richly
blessed by Jehovah God .
2 Although women may be ministers, God recognizes the
sex distinction in that he gives the men responsibilities that
are not open to women . The apostle Paul gives instructions
as to the position of women in the congregation . At 1 Corinthians 14 :33-35 (NW) he says : "As in all the congregations
of the holy ones, let the women keep silent in the congregations, for it is not permitted for them to speak, but let them
be in subjection, even as the Law says . If, then, they want
to learn something, let them question their husbands at home,
for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in a congregation ."
Again, at 1 Timothy 2 :11, 12 (NW) : "Let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness . I do not permit a woman to
teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence ." Paul then goes on to show the reason : "For Adam was
formed first, then Eve . Also Adam was not deceived, but the
woman was thoroughly deceived and came to be in transgression ." (Vss . 13, 14) Here Paul shows that the woman
was created to be in subjection to the man, and safely so .
When the woman ran ahead of her theocratically appointed
head, thinking she knew how to run earth's affairs better
than Adam, she got into trouble .
3 Just what is the application of Paul's above words about
teaching? Women are not used in the congregation as
teachers, or to be overseers over dedicated, capable brothers,
neither are they used to stand before a public audience and
give talks . This does not mean, however, that they cannot
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Study 66
CHILD MINISTERS
1 There is not the slightest doubt that children and youths
can be ministers of God . We have the outstanding examples
of young Jeremiah and Timothy, and Samuel was a minister
as soon as he was weaned . (Jer. 1 :6, 7 ; 1 Tim . 4 :12 ; 1 Sam.
2 :18) Jesus himself was a youthful minister, and he encouraged little children . What kind of minister does he want
you to be?-Luke 18 :16 ; Matt . 21 :16 .
2 Are your parents in the truth? Then you should show
obedience to them . Even Jesus has a Father to whom he must
show obedience . This is right in the theocratic arrangement
God has set up . Are your parents not in the truth? You still
must show them obedience in all things that are not in conflict with God's law . Then there are others to whom proper
respect is due . These are any of those in the congregation
who are older, just as Jesus showed respect to those who
were the older men of his nation . When he was found in
the temple at the age of twelve, he was not showing disrespect to these men and teaching or telling them what to do .
No, he was "listening to them and questioning them ." (Luke
2 :46, NW) Do not tell others what to do .
3 Proper respect must be shown also to others outside the
congregation, such as your schoolteachers . Never be disrespectful to anyone . Help others not in the truth by showing
to them the mild, obedient and respectful spirit that a child
of God's people should display . Even a young person may be
an example to others who are older in the truth . Paul exhorted young Timothy to do this .-1 Tim . 4 :12.
4 The Bible says : "Remember also thy Creator in the days
of thy youth ." (Eccl . 12 :1, AS) Now is the greatest opportunity
you will ever have . You can start out and build your life in
a theocratic way, beginning now . How will you start, what are
the privileges you have and what may you do with your life
to make it a praise to Jehovah, and to prepare yourself for
greater use by him?
5
First of all, since you are young your mind is pliable . It
is open to knowledge and to forming good habits . Good habits
formed will in later life become automatic and will be a great
help . Poor habits will be a hindrance and will be very hard
to overcome, in some cases always being in the way of the
minister, something he has to fight against while maintaining
his integrity against Satan and his demons .
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Study 67
THE FULL-TIME MINISTER
1 Of all the things that a person does, what would be the
most direct way of serving God most effectively? Serving in
the field of full-time ministry . Our example in this respect
is Jesus Christ . He was a perfect man . Think of the things
to which he could have devoted himself to help mankind, to
better living conditions . In the field of engineering think of
the construction work, or in music or art the wonderful
masterpieces he could have accomplished! But he, the Son of
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Study 68
THE
MISSIONARY
1 God's faithful servant Abraham is one of our best examples for a foreign missionary . He was called by Jehovah
to leave the country in which he was born and reared, a country with a high degree of civilization, and to leave his own
family to go into a land that he knew nothing of . This land
was a land of paganism and of fierce, warlike tribes . The
land was promised by Jehovah to Abraham's posterity in
the distant future, but, as to Abraham himself and his immediate family, they were not given any of the land as their
own . (Acts 7 :2-6) In fact, Abraham was told that he and
his seed would receive persecution in this land . It was given
to Abraham much like a foreign missionary assignment, a
land or territory in which he was to witness to the greatness
and purposes of Jehovah, the Almighty God.
2 Abraham no doubt counted the cost and made the decision
to be a witness in this foreign assignment . He was greatly
blessed by Jehovah while there . Why? Because of his faithfulness in witnessing . While in this land he had many difficult trials and testings, and he passed through these faithfully, so that God was able to say of him : "For I have become
acquainted with him in order that he may command his
sons and his household after him so that they shall keep
Jehovah's way to do righteousness and judgment in order
that Jehovah may certainly bring upon Abraham what he
has spoken about him ."-Gen . 18 :19, NW.
3 Abraham was actually active preaching while in this land .
He did not settle down in a place and there merely acquire
great riches and much cattle . As it is written in Psalm
105 :12 .15 concerning him and his household : "When they
were but a few men in number ; yea, very few, and strangers
in it . When they went from one nation to another, from one
kingdom to another people ; he suffered no man to do them
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WORSHIP
-CLEAN AND UNCLEAN
Study 69
EVIDENCES OF PREFLOOD UNCLEAN WORSHIP
1 Worship that is clean and undefiled must be so from the
standpoint of the true God, Jehovah, who is the receiver of all
right adoration, praise and service . (Jas . 1 :27, NW) Worship
contrary to this is therefore unclean, defiled or false religion .
For centuries the Bible itself has kept ajar the curtains of
preflood times by revealing to man an authentic account of
the introduction of unclean worship in Eden . (Gen . 3 :1-7)
Therein is further recounted the unacceptable sacrifice of
murderous Cain (Gen . 4 :3-8), the hypocritical misuse of Jehovah's name in Enosh's day, which began about 3791 B .C .
(Gen . 4 :26), and finally of God's condemnation of most of
mankind which had sunk low in the sink of immorality at
the close of the preflood era of defiled worship .-Gen . 6 :5-7.
2 At a conference of leading archaeologists held in 1931 at
Leiden, Netherlands, there was arranged in order and standardized the names of the three main cultural periods of all
the preflood cities excavated in Iraq . These periods were
called after the names of the sites where traces of them were
first discovered . The earliest is known as the "Al-Ubaid
Period," the second as the "Uruk Period" and the third as the
"Jemdet Nasr Period ." For convenience we further group those
periods before and following c . 3400 B .C . (the approximate
date for the beginning of metal working in the time of Tubalcain) up to the beginning of the "Al-Ubaid Period" as merely
"Pre-Al-Ubaid Periods ." For each of these four designated preflood eras a brief summary will follow as to archaeological
evidences discovered of unclean worship .
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this is manifested : a bowl of food had been left for the boy
and a bone for the dog .
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led to his degraded condition at the time of the Flood? 12 . What record
do the Targums give of this unclean worship? 13 . How did Paul speak
of ancient and modern unclean worship?
Study 70
POSTFLOOD BABYLONISH RELIGIOUS THINKING
1 For many years after the Flood the earth was cleansed of
false religion. However, "the god of this system of things"
made repeated attempts to re-establish religious control over
man . Finally in the days of Noah's grandson Cush and Cush's
son Nimrod the new devil religion began to encroach upon
the then-living children of men . The degrading worship of
human political rulers begun on the plans of Shinar was
carried to other parts of the earth, as is shown by the worship given to the Egyptian Pharaohs and the worship of
Malcam by the Ammonites.-2 Cor . 4 :4, NW; Zeph . 1 :5 .
2 The Scriptures record that Nimrod "displayed himself a
mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah ." (Gen . 10 :8, 9, NW)
It appears that Nimrod was not only a hunter of animals
but also a hunter of men, contrary to God's law . Tradition
has it that Nimrod met a violent death at the hands of Shem
and about seventy-two of his associates, Shem being the son
of Noah who maintained and upheld the true worship of
Jehovah .
3 Nimrod became the husband of his own mother, who was
later worshiped in Babylon as Ishtar and in Tyre and Zidon
and in the rest of Canaan as Ashtoreth . The unfaithful Solomon went after her and built her a high place before Jerusalem. (1 Ki. 11 :5 ; 2 Ki . 23 :13) In Babylon she was also called
"lady of heaven ." The "queen of heaven" was worshiped by
unfaithful Israelites in Jeremiah's day . (Jer . 7 :18 ; 44 :17-25)
She was later worshiped at Ephesus and elsewhere as Artemis
(Diana) .-Acts 19 :25-28 .
4 The use of symbols in devil worship is widespread . Faithful Job declared he had refrained from giving worship to
symbols such as the sun and moon . (Job 31 :24-28) Also the
stars were worshiped. (Deut . 4 :19) Another symbol through
which the demons received the worship of religionists was
the cross . First introduced in Babylon, from there it spread
throughout the earth. Even animals were used as symbols
through which men might worship the demons . The many
animal gods of Egypt are outstanding examples of this .
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Study 71
EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND ROME
1 From the days of the founding of Rome in 753 B .C .,
Rome's form of religion and priesthood had been that of
Babylonish origin, both in doctrine and practice . As the
Roman Empire grew and expanded with the centuries, more
peoples and nations were subjugated, together with their
several sets of gods, rites, mysteries and priesthoods . For a
time the Romans pursued a policy of religious tolerance
exacting from conquered peoples only submission to political
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Jews] in that they were universalists and felt bound to declare openly and somewhat aggressively that the gods of
the State were no gods at all, that men worshiped them in
ignorance ." (Same source as above) Therefore Christians
were called not only "haters of mankind" but "atheists" as
well ; and though they believed in one God, Jehovah Most
High, they still were "atheists."
9 From the Roman standpoint, Christians deserved to be
thrown to the lions in the arena. "Christians to the lions"
was the popular demand of the masses that crowded the
public shows and games in the amphitheaters . Popular accusation was the chief agent of conviction . It is strange that,
with few exceptions, the Roman government did not particularly exert itself to hunt Christians out . On this point the
famous rescript of Emperor Trajan is illuminating . He wrote
to the governor of Bithynia : "Do not go out of your way to
look for them . If indeed they should be brought before you,
and the crime is proved, they must be punished (with death) ."
If the government considered Christians openly dangerous,
then it would have been the emperor's bounden duty to search
them out . But it was left up to the people . Hence, the pagan
populace was as responsible for initiating persecution of
Christians as the government .Harvard Classics, 1909, vol . 9,
page 428 .
10 In spite of the popular feeling, many Romans in high
official positions became Christians . This is evidenced by the
decree of Emperor Valerian : "Senators and prominent men
and Roman knights are to lose their position and, moreover,
to be stripped of their property ; if they still persist in being
Christians after their goods have been taken from them, they
are to be beheaded . But members of Caesar's household are
to have their goods confiscated and to be sent in chains by
appointment to the estates of Caesar ."-Duncan Armytage,
Christianity in the Roman World, 1927, pages 50, 78, 79, 92, 93 .
11 Since the emperor's edict was so carefully worded, there
must have been numerous conversions of prominent citizens
to Christianity . Caesar's own household was included in the
law! How it must have upset Caesar's peace of mind when
some of his household became Christians! In truth, it happened . For the apostle wrote : "All the holy ones, but especially those of the household of Caesar, send you their greetings ."
-Phil . 4 :22, NW .
12 Early Christians were "no part of the world ." (John
15 :18,19, NW) But this Roman policy of persecution was pur-
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Study 72
TESTIMONIALS FROM THOSE OUTSIDE
1 The Scriptures themselves testify to the life and work
of Christ Jesus and of his disciples . Their evident inspiration
is sufficient reason for their acceptance by those who believe .
But there are some who are not willing to rely solely upon
the evidences as found in the Bible . These turn to secular
history for information of the time of Christ and there seek
confirmation of his activity . Such writings are to be found,
though they are comparatively few in number .
2 The Roman satirist and poet, Juvenal (c . A.D . 60-140),
makes an allusion to Tacitus' description of the Christian
persecution . The highly esteemed statesman and philosopher,
Seneca (c . 4 B .C .-A .D. 65), who was Nero's tutor, makes a
slight reference to Christianity . So does Dio Chrysostom
(c . A .D. 40-115), the "golden mouthed" Greek sophist . Likewise, the Greek historian and philosopher Arrian, who was
born about A .D. 96 . Suetonius, the Roman historian who was
born toward the end of the first century, in sketching the life
of Claudius Caesar, says : "[Claudius] expelled from Rome the
Jews, who were continually exciting disturbances, at the instigation of Chrestus [Christ] ." And again, in telling of the
cruel persecution under Nero, Suetonius says : "The Christians
were punished, a set of men of a new and mischievous superstition ."-Vit . Claud ., cap . 25 ; Vit . Nero ., cap . 16 .
3 The famous Jewish historian of that time, Flavius Josephus, has this to offer . A passage in his Antiquities of the
Jews, although challenged as, but not proved, spurious, reads :
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be
lawful to call him a man ; for he was a doer of wonderful
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WORSHIP-CLEAN AND
UNCLEAN
281
more than forty years after the death of the apostle Paul .
Pliny the Younger, as governor of Bithynia, wrote to Emperor
Trajan inquiring how best to deal with the early Christians .
After confessing in this letter that he had not personally
attended the "trials concerning those who profess Christianity," Pliny says (Harvard Classics, vol . 9, pages 425-428)
6 "The method I have observed towards those who have
been brought before me as Christians is this : I ask them
whether they were Christians ." If they admitted it they
were punished . However, others "upon examination denied
they were Christians, or had ever been so ." These, when put
to the test, not only offered up pagan sacrifices, they "even
reviled the name of Christ : whereas there is no forcing, it is
said, those who are really Christians into any of these compliances ." Still others, Pliny says, admitted that at one time
they were Christians and even "addressed a form of prayer
to Christ, as to a divinity," but for some time now they no
longer claimed to be Christians .
7 Pliny wanted to know if Trajan approved of these methods
and tactics . In answer, the emperor commended Pliny on the
way he was handling the matter. "You have adopted the right
course," Trajan wrote, "in investigating the charges against
the Christians who were brought before you." Trajan's
nephew, who succeeded him as emperor (A .D . 117-138), also
wrote to the proconsul of Asia regarding Christians .
a Lucian, a Greek rhetorician born toward the end of Trajan's reign, writing to Cronius concerning the death of
Peregrinus Proteus, a famous Cynic, says, among other
things, that the Christians "spoke of him [Christ] as a god,
and took him for a lawgiver, and honored him with the title
of Master . They therefore still worship that great man who
was crucified [impaled on a crux simplex] in Palestine, because he introduced into the world this new religion ."
9 Origen, one of the most notable "Church Fathers" (A .D .
185-254), has preserved the testimony of several additional
non-Christians of ancient times . For example, Origen says
a Greek philosopher named Numenius, who lived in the latter
half of the second century, "quotes a fragment from the
history of Jesus Christ, of which he seeks the hidden interpretation ." Origen also speaks of Phlegon, who lived about
the middle of the second century, as mentioning the fulfillment of certain prophecies pertaining to Christ .
to Celsus, a rabid enemy of Christianity who lived about
130 years after the death of Jesus, made many quotations
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and practices has since occurred . But this is only the beginning of the great gulf separating those early followers of
the Messiah from modern Christendom's hundreds of sects
and cults .
7 One will scan the record of the catacombs in vain to find
any record of Mariolatry during the first three centuries . In
none of the early drawings is the virgin given a position of
prominence, nor is any prayer found addressed to or through
her . Neither were the Christians of the catacombs fanatical
collectors of relics . Though their martyrs were naturally
highly respected, there was no effort to worship them or to
secure their remains for use as relics by which to exploit
the credulous .
8 Also concerning the delegating of church headship to
Peter, the catacomb walls are blank . "No specifically Romanist doctrine finds any support in inscriptions dating before the 4th century. We begin to trace signs of saint-worship
in the 5th century . The first idea of transmission of power
from Christ to Peter dates from the latter part of the 5th
to the beginning of the 6th, even then Peter's figure does
not appear armed with the keys, as in the later symbolism,"
-McClintock and Strong's Cyclopcedia, Vol . 2, page 147,
9 Though drawings are frequent no capital is made of the
crucifixion of Jesus in anguish of any kind among those of
the first three centuries . Even the heathenish cross, claimed
by Christendom as the very symbol of Christianity, is rare
in the catacombs and, then, some assume that this was due
to the ridicule and reproach that the symbol is supposed to
have brought on the Christians by their adversaries . The
absence of pictures of a cross as an object of worship was
not because true Christians were afraid to reveal their form
of worship . No, rather in those earliest times the Christians
flatly refused the universal acceptance of the pagan, idolatrous cross . Withering under the fire of repudiation from the
catacombs, the Catholic Encyclopedia admits : "Catholic
writers have at times found a richer dogmatic content in the
pictures of the catacombs than a strict examination is able
to prove ."-Vol . 3, page 423 .
10 Eventually episcopal or bishop rule did begin to set in
.
Gradually pagan doctrines and fables began to be mixed
with the pure doctrines of the truth. Greek philosophy was introduced with a consequent wresting of the sacred Scriptures .
By the beginning of the fourth century the Roman pagan
state religion was becoming effete, dying, more licentious and
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immoral than ever. The pontiffs and priests were wholly debased and cruel . The state ceremonies and rites became
revoltingly obscene, more so than in times past . The people
began to turn away from religion and year after year the
Roman Empire was sinking deeper into immorality and decay. The apparent strength of the young apostate Christian
organization was sought to be used to bolster up the dying
structure of the pagan state cult . By agreement A.D . 321
Emperor Constantine managed to get many "Christian"
bishops to accept Sunday, dies Solis in Latin, the official pagan
day of worship .-McClintock and Strong's Cyclopcedia, Vol . 10,
pages 18, 19.
11 Under the fusion religion then set up the pagan Roman
Emperor Constantine became the head of the new Catholic
Church, or the first actual pope, though not the official one
to bear that title . Constantine continued to be recognized as
Pontifex Maximus, which was the title he bore as high
priest of the ancient Roman pagan cult . Julius Caesar, who
was originally trained as "flamen Dialis," a priest of Jupiter,
later A .D . 63 was elected to the office of Pontifex Maximus,
in which he served as the high Roman priest for 19 years .
In 44 B .C . Julius Caesar combined in himself the office of
high priest with that of political life-dictatorship . From that
date forward all Roman emperors till the end of the fourth
century served the combined office of emperor and high priest
of the Roman pagan cult .Encyclopedia Americana, Vol . 22,
page 351 .
12 Thus, 400 years after Julius Caesar's time, Emperor
Constantine made certain of the continuance of this false
religious title under the new fusion religion . He therefore
assumed the supreme religious headship over the new Catholic Church, taking steps to remodel the entire government of
the Christian congregations along Roman pagan lines . The
theocratic method of true Christian church government was
entirely set aside for a hierarchic form of priest rule and
order. The falling away from true Christianity to reorganized
Babylonish thinking was now complete .
REviEw : 1 . When since the Flood did the greatest threat to Satan's
false religious thinking begin to develop? 2 . How did Satan early begin
to combat it? 3 . What caused a reversion to devil religion? 4 . What
gave rise to the early Christian ''underground" movement? 5 . What
difference in religious thinking of Christians and pagans is shown by
the epitaphs of each? 6 . How is the thinking of early Christians shown
to be markedly different from that of many professed Christians today?
7, 8 . How is it shown that Mariolatry and delegating of church headship were not a part of early Christian practice and belief? 9 . What
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further do the catacombs reveal as to the thinking of the early Christians? 10-12. What distinctions began to develop in the congregation, and
what condition in pagan Roman religion made a fusion seem desirable?
and how and by whom was the fusion finally effected?
Study 74
DEVELOPMENT OF THE "MAN OF LAWLESSNESS"
1 Satan in his sowing of many religious philosophies and
fathering of priesthood organizations finally brought forth
his masterpiece, a fusion religion . In his long career of religious cultivation it was during the fourth century of our
Common Era that he successfully grafted together two of
his religious plantings . The one comprised the young body of
deflected, "lawless," apostate Christians, the weeds Satan had
sown among the real wheat . The other religious planting was
the corrupt, heathen state religion of pagan Rome, which
devilish institution had its roots deeply buried in ancient
Babylon, the very fountainhead of false religion in this
world . The resultant mixed vine became designated "Catholic" religion, the Universal Church, or the revitalized imperial
state church of the Roman Empire . After the death of the
apostles and especially from the fourth century forward this
huge religious vine became organized Christianity or Christendom, the beginning of the "man of sin" or "man of lawlessness ."-2 Thess . 2 :7, NW .
2
Already in the days of the early congregation the apostasy
had begun . Paul called this to the attention of the Corinthians in his first letter and admonished against divisions that
had begun to arise over doctrine . (1 Cor. 1 :11-13 ; 3 :3, 4) Even
earlier Paul had to warn the Galatians about being perverted
through another sort of good news and warned that "a little
yeast ferments the whole lump ." Apparently even two years
after the question of circumcision had been settled, some were
still resisting the governing body and trying to establish a
teaching of their own . (Gal . 5 :9-12 ; 1 :6-8, NW) Then years
later Paul had to warn Timothy against Hymenaeus, who,
with Philetus, was teaching a false doctrine regarding the
resurrection, which teaching, he said, "will spread like gangrene."-1 Tim . 1 :19, 20 ; 2 Tim. 2 :16-18, NW . See also 2 Timothy 4 :14, 15 ; Titus 3 :10, 11 .
3 According to Jehovah's purpose a restraining force (that
of the personally present authority of the apostles) was
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10 . How did the popes further strengthen their political power and influence? 11, 12 . What occurred in the thirteenth century and in what
did it culminate?
Study 75
THE REFORMATION NO RESTORATION
1 The history of religion in general and of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy in particular in the sixteenth century can be
summed up in the one expression "The Reformation," though
called by Catholics, "The Rebellion ." The Reformation, rather
than being a restoration of true worship, essentially brought
in a change in church government from hierarchic to that
of episcopal and congregational . The original theocratic form
of the early church was not restored. Contrary to what is
generally thought, the Reformation did not bring in a large
number of reforms as to fundamental church doctrines, which
continued to be heavily tainted with paganism. Although
some reformers made sincere moves in this direction, various
doctrines such as "trinity," "immortality of the soul," "hellfire," traditions of men and creature worship continued unchanged .
2 The Reformation or rebellion itself, as it broke in the year
1517, brought to the fore several leading reformers such as
Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in Geneva (who was
active among the French, giving rise to the French Huguenot
movement) and Ulrich Zwingle, founder of Protestantism in
Switzerland . Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh
Latimer led the Reformation in England . Foremost among
these reformers was Martin Luther, born in Lower Saxony
in 1483 . In 1505 he entered a convent where he began studies
for the priesthood, to which he was consecrated in 1507 . The
following year he was appointed to a chair of professorship
in the University of Wittenberg, where he became an instructor and lecturer of theology . During this period many things
happened that developed those ideas which eventually led
him to open revolt against the Catholic Church . On a pilgrimage to Rome he saw at firsthand the pomp and corruptions
of the Roman hierarchy.
3 In the year 1517 the traffic in indulgences was brought to
the neighborhood of Wittenberg by Johann Tetzel, a Dominican monk. The sale of indulgences was a form of bribery
where the remission of temporal punishment due to divine
judgment against sin was granted upon payment of money .
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up to the open break with Rome . These ecclesiastical declarations were sent to Parliament for final approval . The Convocation at Canterbury made this historic declaration : "The
Bishop of Rome has no greater jurisdiction conferred on him
by God over this country than any other foreign bishop ."
In 1537 Parliament terminated forever the pope's jurisdiction
in England .
7 From that time forward the Church of England has been
a separate religious organization and the state church of
England . As the days progressed more liberal doctrines were
adopted at the various convocations, thus making the Church
of England a Protestant organization . Finally, in 1648, the
Church of England and the Church of Scotland (which
had previously withdrawn from Rome) were united under
the Westminster Confession, originally containing thirty-nine
articles . The Westminster Confession readopted the Nicene
Creed and set forth uniform articles of faith . It is interesting
to note that the Lutheran state church also adopted the Nicene Creed, thus showing that all these so-called Protestant
organizations continued the fundamental fusion doctrines
originally inculcated A .D . 325 . Though Germany and England
slipped the papal yoke from their necks, they did not break
the bonds of fusion religion that enmeshed them .
8 One of the outstanding reformers was John Calvin, born
in France in the year 1509 . A great expositor of the Scriptures, he is also the foremost proponent of the doctrine of
predestination ; and many Protestant organizations follow his
teachings as "Calvinism ." Groups in France and Switzerland,
as well as the Church of Scotland, are based on his teachings,
as are the Presbyterian and Dutch Reform sects of today .
9 In France proper, the followers of Calvin became known
as the Huguenots. After the year 1533 groups of Huguenots
were to be found in many parts of France, gradually establishing themselves as the leading Protestant church movement in
that country . Fearful for the future of the Roman Catholic
Church in France, Catholic leaders turned to the political
state and sought the aid of Henry II to suppress the growing
"heresy ." Henry II and his successor Francis II engaged in
a campaign of extreme persecution and the office of the
Catholic church now became that of the executioner and
hangman . Enduring the persecutions no longer, the Huguenots
took up arms in open revolt . A series of bloody wars followed,
which did not end until the French Revolution granted some
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MODERN HISTORY OF
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES *
Study 76
EARLY VOICES (1870-1878)
1 Gradually `called out of darkness into his wonderful light'!
(1 Pet . 2 :9, NW) Such is an epitomized description of the
modern history of Jehovah's witnesses as they advanced out
of the darkness of "Babylonish" false religious thinking
toward increased restorations of Bible truths . The prolonged
night of spiritual darkness from which the witnesses came
had existed from the early part of the second century following the death of the apostles right up to the latter half of
the nineteenth century . Early Christianity with its brilliance
of right doctrine and cleanness of theocratic organization
began to be eclipsed after the year 100 by a creeping spiritual
darkness of "Babylonish" religious teachings, Grecian pagan
philosophies and rank apostasy .
2 While their complete release from "Babylonish" captivity
did not come until 1919, for a period of nearly fifty years prior
thereto the witnesses experienced a gradual awakening, to
prepare them for their hour of liberation as a New World
people . This proved to be similar to the case of the natural
Jews in captivity in ancient Babylon, where Daniel and many
others of Jehovah's faithful witnesses were aroused to wakefulness years before, to be ready for the restoration of true
worship in Jerusalem when it came at last in 537 B .C . So, too,
with Jehovah's witnesses in these modern times, a stir to
spiritual wakefulness became apparent from the 1870's forward .
3 Amidst great industrial, commercial, social and religious
changes early voices of small religious groups were heard
in their efforts to read the signs of the times and predict the
imminent second coming of Jesus, the Christ . Various Adventist groups were busy in the United States and Europe pro* For a more detailed covering of this general subject than given in
this section, please see the series of articles appearing in the 1955 issues
of the Watchtower magazine .
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29 9
he was seventeen he had become an avowed skeptic, discarding the Bible and the creeds of the churches .
6 During the next few months Russell continued to reflect over the subject of religion, unable to accept it, and yet
unwilling to let it go . Finally, one day in 1870 he dropped into
a dusty, dingy little basement hall near his Federal Street
store "to see if the handful who met there had anything
more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches .
There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of
Second Adventists, the preacher being Mr . Jonas Wendell
. . . Though his Scripture-exposition was not entirely clear,
and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in,
it was sufficient, under God, to re-establish my wavering
faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that
the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly
linked ." Shortly after this Russell and about five others began to meet together regularly from 1870 to 1875 to make a
systematic study of the Bible . Note the following description
of the change-over of thinking that was the fruitage of these
five years of joint Bible study .
7 "We came to recognize the difference between our Lord
as 'the man who gave himself,' and as the Lord who would
come again, a spirit being . We saw that spirit-beings can be
present, and yet invisible to men . . . . We felt greatly grieved
at the error of Second Adventists who were expecting Christ
in the flesh, and teaching that the world and all in it except
Second Adventists would be burned up in 1873, or 1874, whose
time-settings and disappointments and crude ideas generally
of the object and manner of his coming brought more or less
reproach upon us and upon all who longed for and proclaimed
his coming Kingdom. These wrong views so generally held
of both the object and manner of the Lord's return led me
to write a pamphlet-The Object and Manner of Our Lord's
Return, of which some 50,000 copies were published ."
s In January, 1876, Charles Russell for the first time received a copy of the monthly magazine The Herald of the
Morning, as published by the Rochester group headed by
N . H . Barbour . A meeting was soon arranged between Russell
and Barbour, since it was discovered that their views were
the same concerning Christ's second coming as being invisible .
As a result the Pittsburgh Bible group of nearly thirty decided
to affiliate with the Rochester group slightly larger in number . Russell became a joint editor along with Barbour for
The Herald of the Morning . The Pittsburgh group on Russell's
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Study 77
SMALL BEGINNINGS (1879-1889)
I It became evident in the year 1879 which of the many
early "second-coming" voices was being chosen by Jehovah to
become his witnesses . Now from the magazine being circulated world-wide in forty languages but which began to be
published in a small way in 1879, it clearly appears that Jehovah's hand was upon the small Pittsburgh Bible group
under C . T. Russell's chairmanship . By now they had become
sure that Christ's second coming would begin his invisible
presence ; that a hard time of world distress was ahead ; that
thereafter would follow a millennium of a thousand-year
reign of Christ's kingdom to bring about restoration . (restitution) of paradise conditions on earth with everlasting life in
store for men of good will from all nations ; and that the glad
tidings of such "restitution" blessings should be heralded the
world over.
2 Having now withdrawn their editorial and financial support from the Rochester group's magazine, The Herald of
the Morning, the Pittsburgh class decided to embark upon a
great undertaking, that of publishing for the first time their
own monthly Bible magazine . Upon completing many preliminary arrangements, July 1, 1879, saw the release of the
first issue of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's
Presence, of which 6,000 copies were soon distributed . Class
chairman C . T. Russell was chosen to be the editor with five
other mature Bible students serving as regular contributors .
In 1892 The Watch Tower was changed from a monthly to a
semimonthly journal to keep pace with the extended flow
of new Scriptural material. The record of its circulation is
most interesting . From 6,000 copies in 1879, by 1904 there
were 25,000 regularly printed ; and by 1949 the phenomenal peak of 500,000 copies per issue had been reached . But
that is not all ; by 1955 the world-wide circulation in forty
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Study 78
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ON THE OFFENSIVE (1890-1908)
1 In the course of the years five other powerfully written
bound volumes were produced by C . T . Russell, each playing
its part in gathering more of the anointed Christians into
association with the Watch Tower Society . Volume II, The
Time is at Hand, was released in 1889 ; Volume III, Thy Kingdom Come, in 1891 ; Volume IV, The Day of Vengeance [The
Battle of Armageddon], in 1897 ; Volume V, At-one-ment Between God and Man, in 1899 ; and finally Volume VI, The New
Creation, in 1904 . C . T . Russell did not survive to fulfill his
promise to be the author himself of a seventh volume .
2 For some years the Society's publications had been circulating in Europe where small groups were being gathered together . So in the year 1891 Russell, as the Society's president,
made his first trip abroad to stimulate and expand the interest in countries outside the United States and Canada . A
publications depot was set up in London following Russell's
visit, and then finally in 1900 the Society's first branch office
was established, in East London . Following this foreign trip
arrangements were made to begin publishing various books
and pamphlets in German, French, Swedish, Dano-Norwegian,
Polish, Greek and later Italian . It also became apparent that
there was a need to hold conventions in various parts of the
country other than at Pittsburgh with the annual Memorial
celebration, as had been the practice up to that time . So in
1893 arrangements were made for a convention in Chicago,
August 20-24, where the World's Fair was being held that
summer . The number in attendance was about 360 . Seventy
symbolized their dedication to God by immersion in water .
3 Many were the letters that kept coming in to the Society's
head office, showing the heart reaction of those being called
to associate as Jehovah's anointed ones . Following is an interesting one of 1894, typical of many letters still being received to this day from persons of good will toward Jehovah :
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6 Clergy opposition gradually became increasingly manifest as more scores of thousands of Bible tracts and pamphlets were being distributed farther from the Pittsburgh
fountainhead . No longer were representatives of the Society
permitted to speak from the pulpits of the churches as they
were in the 1870's . A sort of preachers' union called the "Evangelical Alliance" had been organized in 1846 among the Protestant clergy to limit recognition of ordination to those of
the major sects already operating theological schools . They
began to ridicule Russell for using the designation "Pastor"
and a few unscrupulous newspapers were used as tools to
manufacture and spread scandalous lies about Russell's personal differences with his wife . Like their Pharisaical prototypes who had defamed Jesus by calling in question his
authority and the legitimacy of his birth, so these modern
apostate leaders of religion stooped to attack the person
rather than the Biblical information that was being published .
T Something new was started that stimulated the dissemination of the truth through tract distribution like nothing heretofore and that was destined to take the clergy by storm . The
Watch Tower of April 15, 1899, proposed what was called
the "Volunteer Service ." Volunteers were called from all the
Christians who attended the Society's meetings to undertake
a mass free distribution of 300,000 copies of the new booklet
The Bible vs . Evolution to people as they left the Protestant
churches on Sundays . This work was taken up enthusiastically
by thousands of participants in Canada, Europe and the
United States . The first year 948,459 tracts were so delivered .
Then for about twenty years the work was kept up on special Sundays . Later house-to-house distribution under the
doors Sunday morning was added . Two or three times a
year new pamphlets were released and these were delivered by
the millions to church attenders . A flood was now reaching
the church doors that was overflowing the religious pastures .
This merely intensified the hostile reaction of the clergy,
who tried to have many of the witnesses arrested for standing on the streets distributing free tracts, as if the sidewalk
approaches to the churches were specially `consecrated'
ground .
8 On March 10, 1903, Dr . E . L . Eaton, minister of the North
Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, a member of the Pittsburgh ministerial alliance, made as their representative a
formal offer to C . T. Russell for a six-day debate on agreed
Biblical subjects . The debates were finally held in the fall
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Study 79
INTERNATIONAL GROWTH (1909-1916)
1 Our study of the history of the Watch Tower Society from
1909 to 1916 must be viewed largely with respect to the warning work of proclaiming the fateful year of 1914 . For thirtytwo years now since 1877 the witnesses had publicly set forth
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all over the world . Finally, by 1914, there were 1,200 congregations operating in connection with the Watch Tower Society, home and abroad . For 1915 the partial number reported
as attenders of the annual Memorial was 15,430 and by thi ;
time there were 55,000 Watch Tower subscribers, thus indicating the approximate number of associates in the witness
work . Before Russell's death in 1916 it is said that he traveled
more than a million miles and gave more than 30,000 sermons and wrote books totaling over 50,000 pages . By this
time the Society's publications were appearing in fifteen
languages.
6 To demonstrate that the witnesses did not believe the
prophetic year of 1914 would end all their operations with
respect to this earth, from 1912 to the beginning of 1914 the
Watch Tower Society spent over $300,000 in preparing "The
Photo-Drama of Creation" to spread Bible knowledge to the
masses of people from 1914 on . In primitive studios in New
York it produced a combined movie-film and picture-slide
show of rare beauty, synchronized with which were many
choice musical recordings and 96 phonograph-record talks
(each 4 minutes long) explaining the principal features of the
Bible . Many complete and abridged sets of this "Drama" were
made, trained traveling operators taking it to millions of
people in free showings at the largest halls and picture places
of North America, Europe and Australia .
7 During the first few months of 1914 the clergy and others
poured considerable ridicule upon Russell and the Watch
Tower Society for failing to see anything happening to the
Gentile nations . But all this ridicule stopped when nation after
nation and kingdom after kingdom began to cascade into
World War I from July 27 onward into the month of August,
1914. A rather accurate press reaction to this situation was
published in the Sunday magazine section (page 4) of The
World, a large New York newspaper, dated August 30, 1914,
in a long feature article headlined, "End of All Kingdoms in
1914 'Millennial Dawners' 25 Year Prophecy," from which we
quote :
8 "The terrific war outbreak in Europe has fulfilled an
extraordinary prophecy . For a quarter of a century past,
through preachers and through press, the 'International
Bible Students,' best known as 'Millennial Dawners,' have
been proclaiming to the world that the Day of Wrath prophesied in the Bible would dawn in 1914 . 'Look out for 1914!'
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710,992
711,410
538,783
812,046
864,510
992,845
661,789
452,713
836,417
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Study 80
YEARS OF CRISIS (1917-1919)
'Following the death in October, 1916, of C . T. Russell, the
first president of the Watch Tower Society, years of crisis
set in, producing within the organization the pressures of
opposition, judgment and cleansing . For three and a half
years (1,260 literal days) the witnesses carried on their
preaching in this critical period from the fall of 1914 to the
spring of 1918 in a "sackcloth" condition of mourning and
reproach, Finally in 1918, "when they have finished their
witnessing, the wild beast [collective earthly ruling powers]
that ascends out of the abyss [the symbolic deep sea of men
raging against God] will make war with them and conquer
them and kill them . And after the three and a half days
spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon
their feet, and great fear fell upon those beholding them ."
Here we have the prophetic description of these years of
crisis, and the historic record here recounted will show its
fulfillment by the facts .-Rev . 11 :3, 4, 7, 11, NW.
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2 On January 6, 1917, approximately 150,000 votes, represented in person or by proxy at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
were unanimously cast for J . F . Rutherford for president,
and thus commenced a new administration for the Society,
which Rutherford was to supervise for twenty-five years . A
brief biographical sketch is in order as to the Society's new
president, Joseph Franklin Rutherford . He was born on November 8, 1869, in Boonville, Missouri, of parents who were
Baptists by religion . He was sixteen years old when his
father consented to his attending college to study law, provided he earned his own way, since his father was merely
a farmer and could not afford to assist him . At the age of
twenty-two he was admitted to the bar and began to practice
law at Boonville, later served four years as the public prosecutor for Boonville, Missouri, and still later served as Special
Judge in the same 14th Judicial District of Missouri . In 1894
he came in touch with Watch Tower Society representatives
and twelve years later, in 1906, dedicated his life to God, thus
becoming ordained for the Christian ministry . In 1907 he
became the Society's legal counselor .
3 The new administration under Rutherford immediately
set about in 1917 to reorganize the Society's Brooklyn headquarters office and also to effect changes in the field service
to arrest the downward trend in the Kingdom witness work,
but not all were happy to follow the Society's new administration in accelerating the witness work . From the beginning in
1917 there were several leaders who became ambitious for
administrative control for themselves . They became uncooperative, and eventually rebellious . This opposition clique
immediately began to publish letters and other material,
which they circulated among the congregations of the Society
in this country and abroad . Gradually opposition parties arose
in the midst of these congregations . The ambitious opponents
thereafter sought to gain control of the legal corporation, the
Watch Tower Society, at the next annual corporation meeting
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due January, 1918, but failed .
4 The internal crisis came to its full with the occurrence
of an outstanding Bible event, namely, the coming of Jehovah's messenger Jesus Christ to the temple for judgment in
the spring of 1918, to separate the "faithful and discreet slave"
class from the "evil slave" group . (Mal . 3 :1-3 ; Matt . 24 :43-51,
NW) The cleavage between the two groups grew further, and
the "evil slave" group came to further internal disagree-
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ments and subdivided . Eventually many other small dissentient groups formed to exist for a while and then to disappear .
5 In the latter half of 1917 the faithful forefront fighters of
the "discreet slave" class took up the distribution of The
Finished Mystery, a seventh volume written to complete the
Studies in the Scriptures series, with great zeal . Within seven
months the Society's outside printers were busy on the
850,000 edition . Not only did this book crystallize the opposition of the "evil slave" class, but it also brought forth bitter
clergy reaction from many parts of Christendom . Sunday,
December 30, 1917, was the historic date for the commencement of the mass distribution through the Sunday volunteer
service of ten million copies of the fiery issue of The Bible
Students Monthly entitled "The Fall of Babylon-Why Christendom Must Now Suffer-The Final Outcome ." The tabloidsize, four-page tract contained extracts from The Finished
Mystery and came to be a stinging exposure of the clergy .
This set off a chain of clergy-inspired actions that sought to
force the governments of the United States and Canada to
destroy the Watch Tower Society and its co-workers .
6 Fighting against mounting odds, the valiant witness band
on March 15, 1918, released a new newspaper-size, two-page
tract, Kingdom News No. 1, headed "Religious Intolerance,
Pastor Russell's Followers Persecuted Because They Tell
the People the Truth-Treatment of Bible Students Smacks
of the `Dark Ages ."' Millions of this tract were distributed
exposing the clergy-inspired persecution of the witnesses
in Germany, Canada and the United States . Furthermore,
this tract advertised the historic lecture delivered on March
24 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music by the Society's president entitled "The World Has Ended-Millions Now Living
May Never Die!" Three thousand heard this important lecture. The fighting force of the witnesses had been by this
time in 1918 to 3,868 workers, but what a smiting work they
accomplished before they were completely silenced! In April
further clergy-inspired intimidations occurred . April 15, 1918,
Kingdom News No. 2 appeared in a tremendous distribution
by the millions with bold headlines : "The Finished Mystery
and Why Suppressed-Clergymen Take a Hand ."
7 On May 1, 1918, began the distribution of millions of
Kingdom News No . 3, which carried the headlines "Two
Great Battles Raging-Satanic Strategy Doomed to Failure
-The Birth of Antichrist ." May 7 warrants were issued by
the United States District Court of the Eastern District of
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317
Study 81
VIGOROUS RESTORATION OF TRUE WORSHIP (1919-1928)
'Though Jehovah's people from the 1870's to 1918 had
gradually changed over much of their basic religious thinking from the corrupt teachings of the Babylonish religion of
the apostate nominal churches, yet to a great measure they
were held in Babylonish restraint by tainted bonds of untrue
religious conceptions inherited from the pagan traditions
adopted by Christendom . For example, up to and including
their 1918 troubles Jehovah's witnesses still trusted excessively in so-called "character development," indulged in considerable creature worship, accepted the earthly governments
as the "superior authorities" ordained of God (Rom . 13 :1,
NW) and thus were held in great fear of man, particularly
rulers . They celebrated some pagan holidays, such as Christmas, the name of Jehovah was kept by them in the background, they used the symbol of the cross as a sign of Christian devotion, and organizationally they continued the democratic, presbyterian style of congregational government .
2 In 1919 and thereafter all this began to change for a brilliant, divinely blessed future . As a restored community they
immediately confessed their sins of compromising, also their
taints of false religion . They repented of their former course,
expressed a desire to change their ways and prayed for Jehovah's forgiveness . The stirring Watch Tower articles of August
1 and 15, 1919, entitled "Blessed Are the Fearless," dispelled
the grip of the "fear of man" restraining the witnesses and
they began to go forth as a forgiven people, a cleansed
organization, a new nation freed from the Devil's old-world
organization.
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
3 The years 1919-1922 proved to be years of new organizational building . The Watch Tower Society decided for the
first time to do all its own printing, even the printing of
bound volumes . Factory space was engaged on Myrtle Avenue,
Brooklyn, N .Y., and large printing equipment was installed
for such self-sustaining operations . Additional volunteers
were brought in to Bethel, making a total of 107 full-time
workers to undertake the production of better and cheaper
publications . In November, 1921, the release of the first of
a new series of bound books was announced, entitled "The
Harp of God ." This book produced in the Society's Brooklyn
factory was well received by the public and, over the years,
enjoyed a wide distribution into the millions . Other books in
this series were Deliverance appearing in 1926, Creation in
1927, and Reconciliation and Government in 1928 . The 1927
Yearbook was the first in the Yearbook series. These new
printing operations ever expanding required larger and larger
quarters, first in 1922 by moving into a six-story building at
18 Concord Street, Brooklyn, and then in 1927 the Society
moved into its own new, large, modern eight-story building
at 117 Adams Street . The Bethel home was also rebuilt and
enlarged at this time .
4 In the advanced conceptions of the new witness work and
the more centralized organization necessary to weld the witnesses together into one solid working force, considerable
resistance was encountered from unprogressive "elective
elders" in the local congregations . Many of these insisted on
living in the past, in the time of Pastor Russell, who was
claimed by them to be the sole channel of Scriptural enlightenment, whom they called "the servant" of Matthew
24 :45 . The Watch Tower of April 1, 1920, and subsequent
studies showed clearly that even Brother Russell conceded
in his time that the Watch Tower Society was the instrument
or channel being used by Jehovah to teach his people on earth .
Now that there was much new spiritual food being flashed
from Jehovah's heavenly temple these elective "elders"
should not retard or prevent the local congregations from
keeping abreast with the accelerating New World society .
5 The germ of theocratic direction really began in the fall
of 1919 with the launching of the work of "The Golden Age,"
which new magazine was released in October, 1919 . Congregations desiring to participate in the new field service now
opening up with the Golden Age campaign were asked to
register as a service organization with the Society. Upon re-
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Study 82
CHAMPIONS OF FREEDOM OF WORSHIP (1929-1938)
1 In our previous study we have seen how Jehovah's people
were extremely active from 1922 to 1928 in the performance
of their commission to declare the "vengeance of our God"
and to publish, the world over, Jehovah's written judgments
against apostate Christendom . In this time Satan was generating forces that were aimed ultimately to make war on
Jehovah's witnesses after 1928, if possible, to crush them
again . An all-out struggle ensued in which Jehovah's fighting
people emerged as unquestioned champions of freedom of
worship.
2 The campaign of arrests of Jehovah's people began in
South Amboy, New Jersey, in 1928 . Statistics of arrest were
not at first kept, but in 1933 for the United States there was
a record of 268, in 1934, 340, in 1935, 478, and in 1936 of 1,149 .
In New Jersey and neighboring states the Kingdom publishers
were brought into court falsely charged with selling without
a license, disturbing the peace, peddling without a permit,
violating Sunday sabbath laws, being classed as solicitors
or itinerant merchants rather than ministers of the gospel .
Jehovah's people felt it their duty and privilege to resist such
persecutions . The Society established a legal department in
Brooklyn to render counsel and aid in the all-out fight that
was developing . An "order of trial" was issued and studied by
all publishers so that they could make their own defenses in
court . A policy was pursued of appealing all adverse decisions . For years this struggle went on in New Jersey until,
finally, November 22, 1939, the United States Supreme Court
gave the victory to Jehovah's witnesses in the Schneider v.
New Jersey case. This decision was based on an earlier victory for Jehovah's people in the case of Lovell v . Griffin, 303
U.S. 444. This case was decided March 28, 1938, in an appeal
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
5 The issue came into the courts of the land, and a case
in Pennsylvania became the test case for the entire country,
being fought up to the Supreme Court in Washington .
Seventy-year-old lawyer J . F . Rutherford, president of the
Society, personally appeared before the United States Supreme Court to argue the case on behalf of Jehovah's witnesses. Finally on June 3, 1940, the Supreme Court of the
United States ruled 8 to 1 against Jehovah's witnesses . But
three years later, on Flag Day, June 14, 1943, the court reversed itself and decided in favor of the witnesses .
6
What was happening internationally as to Jehovah's witnesses? By the year 1934 the Watch Tower Society maintained
branches in forty-nine different countries . As Catholic
fascism was expanding in Europe, increased difficulties came
upon the witnesses . In Italy the fifty some witnesses had to
operate underground and were continually hounded by the
police, the latter even arresting persons accepting literature .
Several of these Italian associates were imprisoned by Mussolini's government . In pre-Hitler Germany the witness work
of the Society grew tremendously . From 1919 to 1933 the
German brothers distributed into the hands of the German
people 48,000,000 books and booklets and 77,000,000 copies
of the German edition of The Golden Age. But with the advent of the Hitler dictatorship in January, 1933, the clouds
of opposition immediately became pitch black . Early in April,
1933, the police occupied the Society's new large factory and
Bethel home in Magdeburg, placed its printing machines under seal and conducted an exhaustive search for evidence of
subversive activity . None being found, the Society was allowed to resume its control of its own premises on April 28 .
But on June 28, 1933, for the second time the Society's property was seized and occupied and by government decree its
printing plant was closed .
7 With the Society's German headquarters now closed the
Hitler government proceeded to interfere with the congregational meetings throughout the land, forbidding the brothers
to meet together . This forced the work to go underground
in 1934, when some of the witnesses began to be imprisoned
for failing to comply with the government's totalitarian orders. In the course of the dark years that followed thousands
of witnesses were arrested, falsely convicted and put in
prisons and concentration camps, where many of them suffered unspeakably . Some two thousand witnesses thus lost
their lives for their faithful integrity to Jehovah . But eleven
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
327
1919 . In February, 1940, the Society inaugurated its street distribution of the Watchtower and Consolation magazines,
offering them on the street corners .
13 Truly Jehovah's witnesses were busy about their Father's
business from the years 1929 to 1939, and their fight against
apostate opposers brought them forth onto the world stage
as champions of freedom of speech . Note the following concluding commendation from a nontheocratic source : "Jehovah's Witnesses have literally covered the earth with their
witnessing . . . . No modern Christians make a more constant
use of scripture, or memorize it in greater quantities than
the Witnesses . To argue successfully with them on scriptural
grounds, one must know his scriptures better than most
members of even the fundamentalist churches do today. . . .
Against any sort of opposition they press ahead . They fight
by every legal means for their civil rights, the right of public
assembly-sometimes denied them-the right to distribute
their literature, the right of conscience to put God above
every other loyalty. They have performed a signal service
to democracy by their fight to preserve their civil rights, for
in their struggle they have done much to secure those rights
for every minority group in America . When the civil rights
of any one group are invaded, the rights of no other group
are safe. They have therefore made a definite contribution
to the preservation of some of the most precious things in our
democracy."-These Also Believe, by C. S. Braden, 1950,
pages 370, 380, 382 .
REViEw : 1 . What did Satan attempt to repeat, and with what result?
2. On what grounds were the witnesses arrested, and what was the result
of the legal fight? 3 . To what extent was the radio used, under what
opposition, and what replaced it? 4, 5 . What issue raised in 1935 was
finally settled in 1943, and how? 6-3 . What opposition raged against the
witnesses in Italy, Germany and Britain? 9-11 . What marked the multicity conventions in 1933 and 1939? 12 . What advances were made by the
organization of witnesses? 13 . What outside source of testimony shows
that the witnesses are well-qualified ministers and are champions of
freedom?
Study 83
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND WORLD WAR II (1939-1945)
1 Jesus Christ was neutral as to the political wrangles of
the old world of his day . His apostles likewise were neutrals .
In fact, the early Christians became persecuted for their
failure to serve in the imperial armies of Rome . The principle
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
329
were held right on schedule, as if no war existed . Some sessions were held during bombing raids .
4 An embargo was placed on receiving shipments of literature from Brooklyn . A struggle for paper supplies ensued to
enable the Society to undertake fairly large printing operations inside Britain, to keep up the flow of publications . Many
of the judges at the tribunals refused to grant military
exemption to the brothers . This meant that 1,593 convictions
followed with aggregate sentences of 604 years in prison .
Of these, 344 were convictions of sisters, who were required
to spend time in prison for failure to accept national direction
to perform war duties . But in spite of heavy restrictions and
war limitations the witnesses in Britain maintained their
neutrality, keeping their integrity to their God .
s The story of the exploits of the Canadian witnesses is
truly a thrilling one . At the peak of Hitler's European conquests, on July 4, 1940, the then Canadian minister of justice,
Ernest la Pointe, a Quebec Catholic, passed an order in council
that placed a total ban on the activities of Jehovah's witnesses
and their Canadian corporation, the I . B. S . A. of Canada .
There soon followed the build-up of an extensive efficient
underground system, which enabled them to meet in small
groups for Bible study and to carry on their preaching activities . Finally on October 15, 1943, the ban on the unincorporated Society of Jehovah's witnesses was lifted, but not the
ban on their legal corporations . The government decided to remove the corporation ban on June 13, 1944. In 1940 when the
ban was placed upon the Canadian work there was an
average of 6,081 publishers, but when the ban was lifted
three years later in June, 1944, there were 10,345 workers
participating .
6 In Australia, on January 17, 1941, an order-in-council was
gazetted, restraining the activities of the Society and its legal
corporations, including the Adelaide Company of Jehovah's
Witnesses, which owned a Kingdom Hall building that the
government soon took over . The Bethel headquarters were
also taken over and occupied by the government . A test case
was made of the government's action to ban the activities
of the Adelaide Company of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc ., which
was finally heard in the High Court of Australia . The court
gave a four-to-one victory to the witnesses . They held that
the order-in-council, banning Jehovah's witnesses in Australia,
was illegal and ultra wires . The court held that the witnesses
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331
QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
33 2
Distribution of
1874-1892
1893-1918
1920-1930
1931-1939
1940-1945
Peak Associates
or Ministers
400
21,274
23,988
73,469
141,606
Study 84
EDUCATING FOR THE MINISTRY (1942-1955)
1 After the St . Louis convention of August 6-10, 1941, where
J . F . Rutherford addressed his largest visible audience of
115,000, the Society's 72-year-old president increasingly failed
in health . Finally on January 8, 1942, J . F. Rutherford died
upon having filled the once of president of the Society for
twenty-five years and two days . On January 13, 1942, Nathan
H . Knorr was unanimously elected as the Society's new president . He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1905, of
American-born parents . He graduated from Allentown, Pennsylvania, High School in June, 1923 . At the age of sixteen he
became associated with the Allentown congregation of Jehovah's witnesses, when he resigned membership in the Reformed Church . He became a full-time preacher at 18, at
which time, in 1923, he was invited to become a member of
the staff at the Brooklyn Bethel headquarters .
2 Sensing the urgent need for greater ministerial training
of all the Society's ministers, the Society's new president to-
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335
World-wide
Return Calls
1938
1942
1945
1949
1953
1954
480,092
7,024,808
8,443,050
15,897,544
22, 990, 305
25,337,026
World-wide
Av . Bible Studies
not reported
12,404
104,142
167,571
281,219
293,341
matters . This tremendous swell of Bible education and knowledge is sweeping the earth even as the waters cover the sea .
(Isa. 11 :9) The "theocratic ministry school" education of the
witnesses is qualifying them to maintain their leading position as New World Bible educators of men of good will in
this time of the world's end .
REvIEW :
1. What change of presidents took place in 1942? 2 . What
step toward better theocratic education was taken in February, 1942?
3 . What school was next established, where, when and for what purpose?
4 . What additional facts are given concerning Gilead school? 5, 6 . How
and when was ministry school training extended to the congregations
of Jehovah's witnesses? 7 . To what did this congregational training lead?
8, 9 . How was this training felt in the field of witnessing?
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BE MINISTERS
Study 85
GLOBAL EXPANSION (1945-1955)
1 The work of Jehovah's witnesses had spread into Europe
in the early 1880's, into Africa, Australia and parts of South
America in the early 1900's and finally into Asia after 1910 .
Following the restoration of true worship in 1919, efforts were
made to spread out into foreign fields as far as possible . The
Society's literature began to be published in as many as
seventy-eight languages . New branch offices were opened in
countries where the witness work was taking firm hold . By
1934 the Society maintained forty-nine branches scattered
on the five continents . Fifty-four nations reported witnesses
active in them during 1942 . More than fifty thousand of the
115,240 ministers reporting were working in territories outside the United States . Jesus assigned the territory to his
witnesses, when he said : "The field is the world ." (Matt .
13 :38 ; 24 :31, NW) This has been more literally realized since
1945 than ever before.
2 The headquarters of the Watch Tower Society being located in North America, Jehovah's witnesses living there have
had a head start in combing out the vast territory to find the
"other sheep ." As soon as the Watchtower Bible School of
Gilead began to turn out its well-trained missionaries in 1943,
these were sent to the various outlying lands of North America, such as Mexico, Newfoundland, Alaska, the Central American states of Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador and, yes, the French-Canadian
province of Quebec . By 1947 there were 163 Watch Tower
missionaries operating in these missionary fields and by 1953
the number was up to 674 Gilead graduates working in twelve
North American lands .
3 In Mexico where so many of those interested in the message of the witnesses are illiterate, schools have been established in each congregation where young and old are taught
to read and write Spanish. This Mexican education program
has been crowned with great success .
4 The major battlefield since 1945 has been in Canada, centering around the Catholic Province of Quebec . From 1943
to 1953, 1,665 prosecutions of the witnesses have taken place
in addition to many mob actions . Of these, 780 were concluded
in favor of Jehovah's people, and 864 have recently been
terminated by the historic Canadian Supreme Court victory
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
339
"Spiritually, Africa used to be called the "Dark" continent because of its paganism . But since 1945 the advances
made by true Christianity through Jehovah's witnesses no
longer leave this continent of 198 million as an unenlightened
area of the world . By 1942 some 10,070 witnesses were found
in eleven African lands . Then in 1947 Gilead missionaries
began to be sent into Africa, twenty in that year . The number of active witnesses kept growing until in 1953 there were
81,793 with eighty Watch Tower missionaries in thirty-four
lands . This is an 800 per cent increase in eleven years! This
has required a great amount of educational work and patient
training on the part of the unselfish European ministers .
Schools had to be operated to teach many of the natives to
read and write . Christian moral standards had to be introduced of one wife to a husband properly legalized in marriage, fornication put away and cleanliness insisted upon
before permanent association with the Society could be permitted .
12 Asia, the largest of the continents, is a gigantic land
mass . What success do Jehovah's witnesses have in preaching
to its 1,272 millions of inhabitants? The answer is that they
find it slow and difficult to make progress, but progress there
is . In 1942 the vast continent of Asia was practically untouched as far as Jehovah's witnesses were concerned. In
this year there were reported 406 ministers active in six lands,
mostly in or near India . From March to May, 1947, the president of the Society together with his secretary made an extensive tour throughout the Far, Middle and Near East, visiting witnesses in Asiatic lands . Arrangements were made to
open missionary centers in all these various countries visited .
By 1953 there were 173 missionaries scattered in nineteen
lands of Asia, including Japan, and the number of active
ministers was 2,698 . After much difficulty solid foundations
have been laid in such countries as Lebanon, Palestine, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, India, Korea, Formosa, parts of China
and finally in Japan . Actually, Asia should be called the
"Dark" continent as far as true Christianity is concerned .
13 Completing our world survey of the global expansion of
Jehovah's witnesses, we finally come to the beautiful islands
of the Pacific including the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and the many others . In this vast expanse of the Pacific
live more than 110 million islanders made up of Polynesians,
Asiatics and Europeans . In 1947 thirteen Gilead missionaries
reached some of these islands to commence their educational
QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
340
Total Lands
54
86
127
143
159
Total Ministers
115,240
207,552
456,265
519,982
580,498
Study 86
INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLIES (1946-1955)
1 Assemblies of Jehovah's witnesses in these modern times
have been an outstanding feature in their growth and development even as in the ancient days of Israel and also those
of the apostles and the early Christians . Prior to 1918 the
yearly conventions were rather localized or sectional, none
involving attendances over 4,000 . From 1919 to 1937 the
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343
the tremendous expansion program approved so enthusiastically at the 1946 Cleveland assembly .
8 At the 1950 Yankee Stadium convention the president of
the Society announced that during the summer of 1951 the
international family of witnesses would meet in Europe in
a series of assemblies there and all should then begin to
plan to attend . This series of European theocratic festivals
was called "Clean Worship Assembly ." The first of this
grand series met in London, August 1-5, at the vast Wembley
Stadium, to which thousands from forty different nations
flocked by train, car, boat and plane . There were 36,315
in attendance to hear the public talk . A joyous international
assembly next followed in Paris, meeting at the Palais des
Sports, August 9-12, with 10,456 attending the public lecture .
Witnesses from twenty-eight countries were represented at
this first assembly of witnesses for all France for fourteen
years . Rotterdam in the Netherlands was the next center
for Clean Worship Assembly, August 17-19, meeting in the
Ahoy building, the sports arena .
9 It was like living in the woods in the new world for three
days for those that attended the international assembly at
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, August 24-26, 1951 . Up to that
time it was the largest of German assemblies, and 2,373 were
baptized . Excellent newspaper and radio publicity was obtained . Sunday the convention reached its climax with an
attendance of 47,432 hearing N . H . Knorr's public lecture.
Inasmuch as the activities of the witnesses in East Germany
have been under ban by the Communists since August, 1950, it
was not possible for many of them to get to the Frankfurt assembly . For this reason a special one-day convention was
arranged for the following Tuesday in the West Zone of Berlin, where a resume of all the principal lectures and items
of interest were presented by several of the original speakers
themselves . The assembly took place in the pleasant outdoor
amphitheater called the Woodland Stage (Waldebuehne) .
And 13,563 attended this stirring four-hour program . It is
estimated some 8,000 were from the Communist East Zone .
Many had risked their lives and spent most of their earnings to make it to this one-day convention, but to them it
was worth it all . They went back to their home territories
to minister amid trying times, not knowing what day next
they, too, might be shut up in prisons and concentration
camps along with many of their associates already incarcerated.
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QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
345
THEOCRATIC SOCIETY
Study 87
THE UNIVERSAL AND THE KINGDOM ORGANIZATION
1 Jehovah God is without beginning. All things were created
by him . Hence there was a time when he was alone ; but
being complete, independent and self-sufficient he was not
lonesome . He also was occupied with work . Tremendous
energy emanates from him throughout the reaches of space,
and it was this energy that he later used in forming and
creating other things of the universe . When he was alone,
he himself constituted the universe . Then he began his
marvelous work of creation . His first creation was his onlybegotten Son, who later became Jesus Christ . This Son he
took into association with him in creating, and so, in working with the Father, the Son was Jehovah's master worker.
Later, when angels, mighty spirit creatures, were created,
they also were given commissions of work to do and became
then, with the Son, Jehovah's universal organization .
2 The word "organization" comes from a Greek word
(ergon) meaning "energy" or "work ." The organization of
Jehovah is therefore created to do a work commanded by
its Creator, Jehovah . This, however, does not mean that God's
organization is to take away from him his work . No, Jehovah
continues to work . (John 5 :17) In fact, having created an
organization, Jehovah brought more responsibility upon himself, more work in operating and caring for this tremendous
organization. Every day is a workday for Jehovah God . When
one workday is completed, Jehovah has accomplished more
work than that done by his entire organization . The sun,
which is a minute part of material creation, showers upon the
earth in a twenty-four-hour day energy equivalent to that
contained in 500 billion tons of coal . What a Worker Jehovah
is!
3 Christ Jesus is second as worker in Jehovah's organization . All in God's organization work . Jehovah's great universal organization is pictured in the Scriptures as a woman,
a wife of him as her husband . (Isa . 54 :5 ; Gal . 4 :26) This
woman accomplishes a work as a helpmate to Jehovah and
also is used to bring forth special servants as he wills . She
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THEOCRATIC SOCIETY
347
QUALIFIED TO BE MINISTERS
6 When God began his earthly creation, placing Adam and
Eve upon the earth, he gave them a commission, work to do .
(Gen . 1 :28) They therefore were made a part of his universal
organization, the earthly part, being in themselves perfect,
standing before God as his children . They were fully in harmony with the invisible part of the universal organization .
At Adam and Eve's rebellion they were cast out from the
universal organization . At that time God indicated that he
would bring forth a new thing that would eventually bring
into harmony and into his universal organization human
creatures who would be faithful to him . The instrument by
which this would be done would be the Kingdom arrangement . Through the Kingdom organization earth's inhabitants
would be brought into a new relation, a childlike relation
to Jehovah . This Kingdom would form the capital or ruling
part of God's entire universal organization, its governmental
body, just as a nation is ruled from its capital city by the
governmental organization residing there .
7 For centuries this universal organization was entirely
heavenly, and brought forth no children on earth, but was
barren . (Isa . 54 :1) However, with the baptism and anointing
of Christ Jesus, A .D . 29, he was brought forth as a spiritual
son of God . Now God's universal organization or "woman"
brought forth fruitage . Christ Jesus was tried and tested,
and met the integrity-searching requirements to qualify him
to be of that heavenly kingdom, and not only that, but also
to become the King of that kingdom, the Head of that kingdom organization . Christ was resurrected from the dead and
seated at the right hand of his Father . But he was required
to wait at his Father's right hand until the time God would
command him to take the throne and go forth to destroy all
wickedness from the universe and completely vindicate the
name of his Father.
8 Then, on the day of Pentecost, A .D . 33, God's "woman"
brought forth more children, the faithful ones of the Jewish
nation who accepted Christ . From that time on, 1900 years
have been spent in selecting and proving the integrity of this
kingdom class, which the Scriptures show will eventually consist of 144,000 members out of all nations . (Rev . 14 :1, 3 ; 17 :14)
Promptly on time, at the end of the "appointed times of the
nations" in 1914 Jesus Christ was enthroned in the heavens
and went forth to rule in the midst of his enemies . (Dan .
4 :25 ; Ps . 110 :2) The Kingdom was completely established
in full power in his hands . On this happy occasion there was
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ganization . Paul immediately associated with that organization and worked in harmony with it .-Acts 9 :1-6, 17-22 .
3 The early congregation was definitely organized in a theocratic way . The "twelve apostles of the Lamb," with certain
mature brothers in the Jerusalem congregation, were the
visible governing body . (Rev . 21 :14 ; Acts 15 :6, 23) Although
all were brothers, on the same level, and there were no clergy
and laity classes, and those who were of the governing body
and who performed duties of special responsibility were
workers, yet the congregation was in no way democratically
operated, neither was it communistic, and certainly not dictatorial.
4 The government of the early congregation finds a parallel
in the days of Moses . In fact, the Israelite nation was a
pattern or type of the Christian congregation in this way .
The Jewish congregation had Moses as mediator and leader.
The Christian congregation has Jesus Christ as its Mediator,
Leader and Commander . Fleshly Israel was founded on the
twelve sons of Jacob, who were the progenitors of the twelve
tribes . The Christian congregation has as foundation stones
the twelve apostles of the Lamb . There were twelve tribes
in natural Israel and there are symbolically twelve tribes of
spiritual Israel. (Rev. 7 :4-8) The Jews were organized under
the terms of the Law covenant . The Christian congregation
is organized under the new covenant . The Jews had their
priesthood of the tribe of Levi . Christ Jesus is the great High
Priest and he has with him a royal priesthood who minister
to the people . Israel had animal sacrifices . The Christian
congregation has the one sacrifice of Christ Jesus, which is
perfect, superior, really atoning for sins .
5 As was exemplified by Jesus, who always referred to God's
written Word, the early congregation was based wholly upon
God's Word, the Bible. Jesus had said : "Sanctify them by
means of the truth ; your word is truth ." (John 17 :17, NW ;
Isa . 8 :20) In the days of the apostles the Christian congregation had great freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom
from false doctrines, and was practicing the pure and clean
worship of Jehovah God . Christ was their invisible King and
Head . Jehovah and Christ Jesus were their Superior Authorities, to whom they were obedient . As stated by the apostles
when before court : "We must obey God as ruler rather than
men ."-Acts 5 :29, NW .
6 The apostles and associate matured ones in the governing
body were given many authorities and duties, among them
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erning body and what were their duties? 7 . Describe the structure of
the congregation . 8. Toward what objective did the organization aim?
problem
: Compare the arrangement of the early congregation with
the congregation today .
Study 89
GOVERNMENT OF THE MODERN CONGREGATION
1 Jehovah, the Creator of all things, is interested in his
creation . He is the Supreme Sovereign and has taken his
Son into association with him, these two being the Superior
Authorities to whom all in heaven and in earth must be absolutely obedient . In fact, loving obedience is the basic law of
his entire organization of creatures . Therefore, Jehovah's organization can be said to be theocratic, which means to be
ruled by the direct administration of God .
2 In order to govern his congregation on earth he has caused
the Bible to be written, forming the constitution of his organization . Although written mostly by men, it is not from a visible source but is inspired from heaven . It is superior instruction, from the top down . It is unchangeable, applies earthwide and takes precedence over anything humans or visible
organizations may say . (Ps . 119 :133) The Creator knows how
to operate his creation and what are the best rules for it to
operate by.
3 Jesus foretold that he would gather together the congregation in these last days, all the faithful anointed remnant
of his body members, and would have them associate together in a body, which he designated his "faithful and discreet slave ." He explained that when he would come to the
temple he would find these ones in a condition of sincerity
toward him and with a desire to do the work he had for them .
He said that he would gird himself and would minister to
them and that they, in turn, would feed his household of
faith . (Luke 12 :37 ; Matt . 24 :43-47) Jehovah God therefore
deals with this congregation in getting his name proclaimed
and in preaching the good news of the established kingdom
world-wide . These are his "domestics ." He has selected a small
group of these who are mature and faithful to form a visible
governing body, just as the early congregation had its visible
governing body of mature, faithful anointed ones .
* In fact, Jehovah long ago foretold that in these modern
days he would restore the congregation to the standard of
freedom that was enjoyed in the days of the apostles, and
would build it up in the same manner of organizational struc-
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Study 90
THE NEW WORLD SOCIETY
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